HOUGHTON, N.Y. –  Houghton women's hoops won their third conference match-up as the Highlanders soared past Elmira, 62-48, on Tuesday night.
 
The Highlanders were led by two veterans, Brittany Lenart and Emily Swanson. Lenart and Swanson collected 14 points each in a dominate showing.
 
Both teams came out strong resulting in an even first quarter with the score tied at 11 with 4:40 on the clock. However, that was the last time Elmira saw a lead or a tie for the rest of the game. In the first quarter, Houghton lead by as many as nine points and outscored the Soaring Eagles 22-13.
 
The third quarter proved to be the Highlanders second breath. Lenart hit all three of her shots, including a clutch three pointer and a three-point play, which led to a 16-point lead for Houghton at the end of the third quarter. Never looking back, the Highlanders continued to lead throughout the fourth quarter to pull out a 62-48 advantage over the Soaring Eagles.
 
GAME VITALS                           
Score: Houghton – 62 | Elmira – 48
Records: Houghton – 7-6 (3-1 Empire 8) | Elmira – 8-5 (0-4 Empire 8)
Venue: Nielsen Center, Houghton, N.Y. | Attendance: 116
  
NOTABLE STATS
>> Emily Green, Elmira's leading scorer, tallied 11 points while six other Soaring Eagles found their way into the scoring column.
  
>> Elmira outperforms Houghton on the boards by 6 rebounds, 38-32.
 
>> Both teams had a presence in the paint, but Houghton won the battle notching 26 points in the paint
to Elmira's 24
 
>> Houghton's Laurie Call had five steals and Leslie Moose grabbed 10 boards.

COACH'S CORNER
"Our ladies carried out our defensive strategy and did a great job holding a team that normally scores over 63 points a game to 48 points.  This was absolutely a determining factor on the floor tonight.
 
Laurie came up big tonight on the defensive end with her relentless mentality and scrappiness on the floor.  She led the team with five steals and had more deflections that impacted the energy of the team on the defensive end. 
 
Emily, Brittany and Madison executed great offensively and shot well from the floor and hit some key shots to push the momentum in our direction at key points in the game.  Leslie did a wonderful job rebounding for us- ending the game with 10 boards which showed a lot of determination against Elmira's strong post play.
 
Overall, I am just proud of our team coming out and putting things together to get the win.  Elmira is a good team, this was a very good win for us tonight. 
 
Ready to get after it tomorrow.  One game at a time."
–Coach Alicia Mucher

UP NEXT
The Highlanders are back in action on January 12^th at 8 PM traveling to St. John Fisher as they continue in conference play.