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HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Nazareth fell to host Stevens 60-40 in a women's Empire 8 Conference basketball game on Friday evening. The Golden Flyers were doomed by a Ducks' 12-0 scoring run in the first half and a 16-0 run in the second half. Junior Julia Brew tallied a game-high 15 points for Nazareth. Classmate Lindsey Kelly recorded 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

Following the loss, Nazareth falls to 15-10 overall and 9-6 in Empire 8 games. With the victory, Stevens improves to 21-3 overall and 13-2 in conference contests. The Golden Flyers are the fourth seed for the Empire 8 Tournament, February 27th-28th. Nazareth will play the top seed in the tournament. Ithaca is currently seeded first with a 14-1 conference record. Stevens is second (13-2), and St. John Fisher is third with an 11-3 record in the Empire 8. The Golden Flyers close the regular season on Saturday when Nazareth travels to Hartwick for another conference game.

The Golden Flyers had the early lead, 14-10, 7:05 into regulation. After surrenduring the first four points, Nazareth responded with a 14-6 run. Brew scored the first five Golden Flyer points on a layup and shot from outside the arc. Senior Melissa Reeves added a layup, which was followed by another basket by Brew. Kelly's free throws maintained Nazareth's lead. A three-pointer by junior Sam Sorge capped the run to give the Golden Flyers their largest lead. After the Ducks took a 17-16 lead, Sorge connected on another three-pointer to give Nazareth a two-point lead with 7:20 to play in the opening half.

Following Sorge's bucket, Stevens went on the first of their scoring runs as the Ducks scored the next 12 points to take a 29-19 lead. The Ducks' run spanned just over four minutes. The Golden Flyers trimmed their deficit to eight points before Stevens stretched its advantage to 34-22 at the half.

Kelly scored the first four points of the second half to cut the Ducks' lead back to eight points. Following Kelly's layup and free throws, however, Stevens used a 16-0 scoring run to stretch its lead to 24 points. Nazareth's scoreless drought lasted over eight minutes. Brew and Sorge combined to score seven straight points to cut the Golden Flyers's deficit to 16 points with 6:27 left to play, but they were unable to threaten the Ducks' lead.

In addition to the points from Brew and Kelly, Sorge finished with eight points. Veronica Peck, Melissa Reeves, Colby McCartney, and Hannah Runyon combined for seven more points.

Nazareth was held to 28 percent shooting (15-53) from the field while Stevens connected on 40 percent (23-57) of its shots. The Ducks also recorded a 43-34 advantage in total rebounds.

Miranda Ripken and Kaitlyn Astel had 12 points apiece for Stevens while Anna Toke collected a game-high 14 rebounds.