Senior and leading scorer Emily Nester was held off the scoresheet in the third quarter, but scored ten in the fourth to lead the College at Brockport women to a 61-51 victory before the men ran out to a 38-5 first half lead on their way to a 107-50 trouncing of Fredonia to complete the doubleheader sweep.
The women led for most of the first half as Bailey Pratt scored eight of her 14 points including two three-pointers and took a two-point lead into the halftime locker room.
After struggling offensively through the opening minutes of the second half, a Brockport timeout resulted in a 12-0 run highlighted by two more treys from Pratt and three field goals off the bench by freshman point guard Chelsea Henry of Greece Athena.
Freshman Morgan Elmer added a three-pointer and sophomore Julianna Taylor hit a reverse lay-up to extend the lead to as many as 12 points late in the third quarter.
Nester and Fredonia traded baskets early in the fourth, but the Blue Devils cut the Brockport lead to five with five minutes remaining. Another Brockport timeout and another run – this time 9-0 as Nester hit a pair of free throws and went to her left hand on a drive along with three points from Henry and a lay-up by junior Emily Merrill to close out the win.
“They made it difficult for me in the third, but luckily my teammates found me in the fourth and we were able to get it done down the stretch,” Nester said. “I had to be creative when my teammates got me the ball. We really try to get our energy from our defense, so we need stops and we know we can convert on offense…and we can be successful.”
“I think that’s just what she (Nester) is doing for us this year is she finds a way,” Brockport head coach Corrine Jones said. “She does struggle when people push up on her, but she has great footwork and moves pretty well, but she is our senior leader and we just follow.”
Nester led all scorers with 17 points and added eight rebounds and four assists while Pratt finished with 14 points and 5’3” Henry nine points with a team-high nine rebounds and five steals.
The Golden Eagles men pressured and ran their way out to a 38-5 lead as Brockport High grad Antonio Alvarez had 11 first half points and junior Justin Summers ten points.
“We were just very intense; we’re coming off three losses so we knew what we needed to do to get back and we got back,” Alvarez said. “The competition is going to get harder, but if we come out with that intensity then I know we’re going to make it all the way and I believe in that.”
Fredonia finally found some offense over the final minutes of the first half, but Brockport took a 55-22 lead into the second half.
A 17-0 2 run midway through the second half put Brockport ahead 81-32, who received offensive contributions from all 15 players who saw minutes.
It marked the largest margin of victory for the men since beating the same Blue Devils by 50 in January 2014. The team record is an 88 point margin.
Summers led the Golden Eagles with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks while Alvarez added 11 points and six rebounds. Stroman Montgomery had 14 points and Josh Nelson added nine points on three treys.
The Brockport women sit fourth in the SUNYAC conference with a 6-5 record with seven regular season games remaining while the men are 7-4, also fourth and one game behind third place Cortland. The top two teams in the conference receive first round byes with third and fourth hosting first round playoff games.
“If you look at our schedule coming down the road there are some teams that are at the bottom half of the league that we haven’t played yet,” Brockport men’s head coach Greg Dunne said. “Our strength of schedule we are number one in the region by a lot, so we need to get healthy to make a real good run at this.”
