Ithaca College Athletics

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team dropped a non-conference game to No. 9/11 Rochester, 77-67, on Tuesday evening.
 
Despite holding a lead for much of the first half and into halftime, the Bombers could not hold on for the win after being outscored in the second half.
 
Ithaca was led by Cassidy O'Malley, who registered her first career double-double with a 24 point, 12 rebound performance. She also recorded two blocks on the day.
 
Junior Allie Tunick also reached double figures with 10 points, which included two three-pointers.
 
Rochester's Lauren Deming finished the day with 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting, five of which were from behind the arc. Alexandra Leslie netted 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Lizzy Atkinson scored 10 points.
 
The Bombers started off the game by jumping out to a five-point lead on a three from senior Julie Yacovoni and a Tunick layup.
 
Deming drained her first three pointer of the game at the 7:39 mark and Lena Ethington put in a layup to tie things up, just under three minutes into the game.
 
The two teams went back and forth for much of the first quarter and the game was tied five different times. IC finally gained the slight advantage with 1:29 left to play in the first on a Meghan Pickell jumper.
 
Rochester's Leslie scored again for the Yellowjackets before Annie Giannone put in a layup to give the Bombers the four-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
 
IC maintained its lead the entire second quarter, going up by as many as eight points.
 
Two free throws from Atkinson cut Ithaca's lead to just two points before back-to-back layups from Meghan Mazzella and Abbi Field gave the Bombers a 27-21 edge.
 
An O'Malley layup at the 6:55 mark pushed IC's advantage to seven points before Atkinson netted a three to bring the lead back down to four points.
 
The Bombers took their biggest lead of the game with just over two minutes left to play in the half on an Erin Woop layup.
 
The Yellowjackets scored the final three points of the half to send the Bombers into the ahlf with a 40-35 lead.
 
Rochester came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter to take the lead less than half way through.
 
A jumper from Atkinson at the 8:18 mark started the run for the Yellowjackets which led to take a 48-47 lead on a Deming shot with 6:25 left in the quarter.
 
O'Malley gave the Bombers the lead once again with just over five minutes left in the third with a layup and a make on the ensuing free throw after being fouled.
 
Rochester gained the lead for the final time in the game at the 4:59 mark on a Deming three-pointer.
 
Giannone cut the deficit to just one point to end the third quarter with the Bombers trailing 58-57.
 
Deming drained a three to start the quarter and Leslie scored on a layup to push the Yellowjacket's advantage to 63-57.
 
O'Malley scored seven points in a row for IC, cutting the lead to 69-65 with just over four minutes left in the game.
 
Woop netted a layup for the Bombers at the 3:40 mark which cut Rochester's advantage to just two points, but IC could not take back the lead.
 
The Yellowjackets went on to score the final eight points of the game to go home with the 10-point win.
 
Ithaca shot 28-for-66 for a 42.4 percent clip. The Bombers were also 5-for-14 from three, a 35.7 percent mark.
 
The Bombers are back in action on January 5, 2018 when they host Liberty League opponent Union College at 6 p.m.