ITHACA OVERCOMES NAZARETH TO CLINCH E8 TITLE
Golden Flyers (12-11) complete regular-season schedule Saturday at Elmira
• BOXSCORE | UPDATED STATS

ITHACA, N.Y. (Feb. 18, 2005) – Host Ithaca broke open a close game by outscoring Nazareth 47-33 in the second half Friday and went on to defeat the Golden Flyers in women's basketball, 74-58.

The victory clinched the Empire 8 Conference regular-season title for the Bombers, who improved to 11-1 in conference play and 16-7 overall. Nazareth fell to 5-8 and 12-11. The Golden Flyers close out their regular-season schedule Saturday at Elmira at 2 p.m. (WHTK-AM 1280).

In Friday's game, Ithaca bolted to a 14-2 lead in the first five minutes and never trailed. Nazareth battled back by scoring the last six points of the half to trail by just two points, 27-25, after 20 minutes.

A jumper by Jaimee McGivern early in the second half tied the score at 27-27, before Ithaca embarked on a 12-2 scoring run to push its lead back to double digits, 39-29. The Bombers stayed comfortably ahead the rest of the way.

Senior Sara Shipley (pictured) was Nazareth's high scorer with 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting. Sarah Homer added 11 points and McGivern had seven points and five steals.

Ithaca's Stephanie Cleary led all scorers with 26 points. She also had six assists and six steals. Jill Post combined 13 points with 10 rebounds and Sue Kelly scored 10.

By clinching the regular-season E8 title, Ithaca will be the top-seed and host for next weekend's conference tournament. Semifinal games are at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday. The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.