Despite Strait’s 21 Points, FLCC Falls on Road to Alfred State, 65-50
ALFRED, NY. – The Finger Lakes CC Lady Lakers (3-6) had no answer for Alfred State College's Haley Witchella last night. Witchella, a 6' sophomore forward, provided the Lady Pioneers with 22 points and 23 rebounds – both of which were game highs. The Lady Lakers, despite receiving 21 points out of sophomore guard Casi Strait, fell in the road contest, 65-50.
Alfred State scored the games' first bucket (a two pointer) on Thursday and never looked back after recording it. The Lady Pioneers, a D-II member in women's hoops, would grab the win in wire-to-wire fashion. After they found the Lady Lakers net for the first two points of the game, they went on to build a 32-21 halftime lead.
Finger Lakes, who showed zero signs of quit, fought back with great energy in the second half despite falling. Alfred State would outscore the Lady Lakers post recess – 33-29 – sealing a 15-point victory.
Finger Lakes did manage to crawl back into the contest right out of the gates in the start of the second half. FLCC went on a 9-3 run in the first 5:48 of the games' final half – narrowing the score to 35-30 – but that would be as close as the game would become in terms of the score for the remainder of it.
The spotlight was clearly shown on Witchella all night long. Her 22 points came off 8-20 shooting and of her 23 rebounds, 13 of them were notched on the offensive end of the court.
Overall, neither teams shot the ball particularly well. The Lady Lakers shot just 28% from the field while Alfred State shot just 36% from it. Free throw shooting was not a strength of either team as well.
Turnovers and personal fouls were of similar numbers for both squads. Alfred State led the turnover column with 20. The Lady Lakers coughed up the rock 18 times. In the hacking one another category, both teams finished Thursday's meeting with 16 personal fouls each.
The Lady Pioneers did an excellent job of defending the round ball in their territory. Finger Lakes was out rebounded – 63-42. In addition, Alfred State mustered up 11 steals and 8 blocks as a unit.
Ball movement also favored the hosts as they passed out a team total of 16 assists versus the Lady Lakers 8.
Strait's 21 points came with a flawless 6-6 night from the free throw line. She has now scored in double figures in each of the Lady Lakers 9 games this season.
Guards Julia Pagano and Kelli McCauley each also reached double figures in scoring for Finger Lakes. Pagano, who shot 5-8 from the hardwood, scored 13 points in the losing effort. McCauley, for the fourth consecutive game, scored in double digits as she finished the game with 11 points.
Pagano also added a team-high 3 assists to go along with her scoring.
Finger Lakes forward Britany Monpere led the Lady Lakers in the rebounding department. The sophomore pulled down 8 rebounds in the 27 minutes that she was present on the court.
Alfred State, like Finger Lakes, also saw three of its players score in double figures. In addition to Witchella's spectacular scoring affair, the Lady Pioneers received 11-point and 10-point efforts from Karley Fanning and Jennifer Fedrick respectively.
Witchella and teammate Destiny Brito were the games' co-leaders in the assists department last night. Both individuals passed out 5 assists each.
The outcome of the game pushed Alfred State's record to 7-2.
Finger Lakes, with the loss, now drops its 2012-13 road record to 1-3. In its next game, FLCC will take on Fulton-Montgomery CC at home. That contest is set in stone to take place next Tuesday (12/4) at Putt Moore Court. Game time tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.