ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team defeated William Smith, 72-52, on Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium. The Bombers improve to 9-2 on the season and 4-0 in Liberty League action.
 
The first quarter remained fairly even between the two teams, but the Bombers slowly started to pull away in the second quarter to head into the locker room with a double-digit lead.
 
It was the Herons who got on the board first with a Mia Morrison layup but sophomore Cassidy O'Malley quickly tied things up.
 
The Bombers and Herons exchanged points and the lead several times in the first quarter.
 
An Erin Woop layup at the 5:15 mark gave the Bombers a four-point lead before William Smith score the next five points to go ahead.
 
William Smith freshman Stavriana Dimitrakopoulou scored five straight points, hitting a layup before netting a three nearly 30 seconds later, which gave the Herons a one-point lead. Morrison followed that up with a fast break for two more points for William Smith.
 
An Emma Gallagher free throw tied things up at 15 before junior Annie Giannone closed out the quarter with two free throws, giving the Bombers the two-point edge at the buzzer.
 
Just 1:33 into the second quarter, IC started on a run, scoring 10 points in a row.
 
Junior Meghan Mazzella got things going with two free throws. The Bombers built up a 13-point lead with a Grace Cannon layup, an O'Malley jumper, a Julie Yacovoni layup and a pair of O'Malley free throws.
 
The Herons chipped away at the Bombers' lead, bringing it down to as few as eight points following an Olivia Hughes three-pointer at the 2:08 mark.

IC ended the first half by scoring the final six points on back-to-back baskets from Yacovoni and a layup from O'Malley.
 
William Smith opened up the third quarter with three straight points to cut the Bombers' lead down to 11 points, but that would be as close as the Herons would come the rest of the game.
 
The Bombers and the Herons went back-and-forth in the third quarter but IC eventually built up as much as an 18-point lead, led by O'Malley's eight third-quarter points.
 
A Sara Jackson three pointer with 31 seconds left put the Bombers up 57-39 to head into the final quarter.
 
The two teams were nearly even in the fourth quarter, with IC scoring just three more points than the Herons.
 
The Bombers took their biggest lead of the game (22 points) with just under one minute to play following back-to-back buckets from first-years Kelly Lamarre and Megan Yawman.
 
IC was led by O'Malley who scored 25 points and was just two rebounds shy (8) of a double-double. Yacovoni also reached double-figures, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven boards.
 
Ithaca is back in action on Tuesday when it hosts RIT at 6 p.m. as part of a Liberty League double header.