ALFRED, NY - The Alfred University women’s basketball team fell short in its comeback effort against visiting St. John Fisher, falling 74-63 to the Cardinals Saturday afternoon at the McLane Center.

AU (7-13, 0-9 Empire 8) trailed at the half, 33-30, and was behind by eight points (52-44) with 8:43 left when the Lady Saxons went on a 13-0 run to take a 57-52 lead with 5:59 left. Back-to-back three-pointers by Portia Valasco gave Fisher a 58-57 and the Cardinals never trailed again, outscoring AU 16-6 over the game’s finals six minutes.

Alfred outrebounded Fisher, 39-35 and made nine three-point shots to only four for the Cardinals, but Fisher shot 44 percent from the floor to 38 percent for the Saxons. Fisher won the game at the free-throw line, making 22 of 28 foul shots (77 percent) while Alfred went to the line just seven times, making four.

Sophomore forward Grace Williamson (Olean, NY/Olean) had a team-high 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in tallying her 13th double-double of the season. Freshman guard Harley Cleary (Rochester, NY/Mercy) added 15 points, three assists and three steals and sophomore forward Sarah Federico (Buffalo, NY/Holy Angels) had seven points and six rebounds for Alfred. Senior guard Christina Jordan (Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, NY/Cornwall) chipped in with six points and six boards and senior point guard Kacey Kwiecien (Perry, NY/Perry) dished out a game-high four assists.

Meghan Soja netted a game-high 26 points to go with five rebounds and a pair of steals and Velasco finished with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for Fisher (10-10, 6-3 Empire 8). Camaryn Buckner had a team-leading nine rebounds to go with eight points and four blocked shots.

AU plays next on Friday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m. at Hartwick.