#15 Tiffany BeckmanRoxbury, MA - The Fisher College Women's Basketball team returned to its winning ways as they beat future Sunrise Conference opponent Hesser College, 58-46. Junior Tiffany Beckman (East Hartford, CT) continued to dazzle the home crowd as she scored a team high 22 points on the night. Also providing some big offensive help were a pair of seniors. Both Jackie Streeter (Westminster, MA) and Leslie Wadhams (Burlington, VT) recorded double-doubles each, Streeter had 15 points, 11 rebounds and Wadhams had 14 points, 17 rebounds.
Fisher jumped out to an early lead to begin the game. Led by Beckman, they went on a 9-0 run to start and eventually got out to a 13 point lead half way through the opening frame. Hesser (4-9) would battle back as Quintina Young's (Junior from Portland, ME) layup tied the game at 23 with 4 minutes to play. The game would be tied up again at 26 until Wadham's field goal put Fisher up by 2 heading into halftime. For the 1st half, the shooting was about even with Fisher shooting at a 35.5% clip and Hesser at a 31.3% clip from the floor.
The second began as a low scoring affair as neither team could find its way to the basket. It wasn't until there were 7 minutes left when the action started up. At this point Fisher quietly pushed its lead to 10 points and Streeter's second three pointer of the season at 5:24 sealed the deal and gave Fisher a 13 point lead. Hesser would make it as close as 8 points but Fisher was just to strong in the end.
For Hesser College, junior Chrissi Zissi (Hudson, NH) led the Lady Blue Devils with 12 points and sophomore Whitney Hanks (Somersworth, NH) added 10 points. Young also pulled down 11 rebounds on the night.
Recently named Sunrise Conference Rookie of the Week, Darniesha Ruffin (Stoughton, MA) chipped in with 4 points to go along with her stellar defense. Senior Kianesha Dennis (Lynn, MA) also played well defensively as she recorded 5 steals in the game.
"It was a great team win," said Beckman. "we came back home (their previous 6 games were on the road) and got into a rhythm quickly. I had a good night but the big stars tonight are Jackie and Les (Streeter and Wadhams). They played tremendous. It feels good to get a win, but now we got to focus on Briarcliffe."
With the win, Fisher improves their overall record to 2-11. The women will return to action this Saturday afternoon when Briarcliffe College visits Madison Park Community Center. Game time is set for 12pm. In their previous battle earlier this season, Briarcliffe edged Fisher by a score of 62-58 in the opening round of the Hesser College Tournament.
