ALFRED, N.Y. – The Houghton Highlanders pulled out a road win, 71-47, over the Alfred State Pioneers in women's basketball action Friday night.
 
Houghton's defensive efforts were essential in the win. The Highlanders limited the Pioneers to 47 points by forcing turnovers and leading on the boards. The Pioneers carelessness with the ball allowed for 22 points for the Highlanders off of their turnovers. This is the second game in a row that Houghton dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Pioneers, 42-32, with 28 of those boards collected on the defensive end.
 
Sophomore point-guard, Cori Beck, led the Highlanders with 11 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Hannah Cybart and Emily Swanson followed behind notching 10 points each.
 
Alfred State's Catherine Bialecki led the Pioneers with 14 points and nine boards, while her teammate, Kelly Kane, chipped in 10 points.
 
GAME VITALS                           
Score: Houghton – 71 | Alfred State – 47
Records: Houghton: 3-3 | Alfred State – 1-4
Venue: Orvis Activities Center, Alfred, N.Y. | Attendance: 107
  
NOTABLE STATS
>> The Highlanders' bench chipped in a combined 36 points.
>> Houghton shot 43.3% from the field to Alfred State's 33.3% .
>> The Highlanders also shot 70% from the charity stripe, while the Pioneers shot 50% on the night.

COACH'S CORNER
"Tonight, we challenged the team to come out with energy and to play together for 40 minutes. I was really pleased with how they responded to the challenge. 
 
Our first quarter defense got us off to a great start. They took pride in getting stops and rebounds and we executed our game plan. We had to weather the storm a bit in the second quarter. We started to get a little rattled and had a few turnovers but luckily halftime brought the team together.
 
Cori did a really nice job leading the way. Her floor leadership turned things around for us. She did a great job distributing and taking care of the ball tonight.
 
We have to give credit to our post defense, too. Alfred State pounds the ball inside and Madison, Emily, and Olivia all contributed in minimizing the impact in the paint.
 
When you come out with a win like that and see on the stat sheet that we had 23 out of 26 field goals assisted, that says something about how we came together to get an entire team effort. It is a really satisfying win heading into the weekend." – Coach Alicia Mucher

UP NEXT
Houghton women's basketball will be back at the Nielsen Center to take on Geneva College on Tuesday, December 5 at 6 p.m.