HENRIETTA, NY – University of Rochester women's basketball fell to the St. John Fisher University Cardinals, 71-62, in their opening game of the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout on Thursday evening, hosted by the RIT Tigers inside Clark Gymnasium.
 
Both teams shot around 40 percent for the contest, and while the 'Jackets outrebounded the Cardinals, 41-35, Fisher's eight-made three-pointers, compared to just three for UR, were the difference in the nine-point contest.
 
Rochester got the scoring started with seven of the first nine points of the contest, as Erin Lillis knocked down a triple to make it 7-2 after two-pointers from Abby Gress and Tia Poulakidas opened the scoring in Henrietta.
 
Emily McLaughlin answered Lillis' three with one of her own just shy of the eight-minute mark of the first, and St. John Fisher would pull ahead for the first time with four-straight points from Katie Moravec over the next two minutes.
 
Moravec added two more after Poulakidas tied it with a layup from Gress, before the Cardinals stretched their lead out to eight and then nine, ending the first quarter on a 13-4 run over the final 3:15 to take a 24-15 lead at the quarter break.
 
The Cardinals stretched their lead out to double digits to start the second, leading by as many as 14 in the period before UR made a run, cutting the deficit to just six, 32-26, with a 1:59 left in the first half.
 
Layups from Poulakidas and Rylee Drahos brought Rochester back within 10 just shy of the 7:12 mark of the second, with a 7-0 run over four minutes and change, starting from Annelise Dexter's three-pointer at the 5:28 mark of the quarter, made it a six-point game.
 
However, that'd be as close as the Yellowjackets would get the rest of the period, as Sidney Tomasso and Hannah Ferguson helped increase Fisher's lead back to double digits, while a late layup from Poulakidas made it a 37-28 St. John Fisher lead at the break.
 
Fisher then got hot to start the third, with three triples over the first four minutes to stretch their lead out to its largest of the night, 48-30, with 5:53 left in the third. The Cardinals held UR to just two points over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, as UR shot 1-for-7 from the field to open the second half.
 
St. John Fisher led by as many as 18 in the third quarter and led by 15 at the end of the third, and while Rochester outscored the Cardinals by six in the fourth, the deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
 
Jumpers from Deniz Alparslan and Gress closed the gap to 11 to start the third, but the Cardinals made it a 14-point lead once again with a quick 6-2 run over the next 1:18.
 
Down 17 heading into the final four minutes, Lillis' layup jump-started UR's offense, as the 'Jackets outscored St. John Fisher, 10-2, over the final 4:24, but it'd prove to be too little to late, as the Cardinals finished off a nine-point, 71-62 victory.
 
Rochester drops to 3-2 with the loss, while the Cardinals move to 4-3 with the win.
 
Gress and Poulakidas each tallied 15 points to lead the 'Jackets, with Gress adding a team-high eight rebounds and three assists.
 
As a team, Rochester shot 40.9 percent (27-for-66), compared to 41.9 percent (26-for-62) for the Cardinals, but Fisher knocked down eight threes, shooting 8-for-23 from deep, while UR connected on just 3-of-12.
 
The Yellowjackets will wrap up the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout on Saturday, Nov. 23 at RIT with a matchup against Nazareth University at 6:00 p.m. inside Clark Gymnasium.