ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team held off a late surge from the University of Rochester to claim a 59-53 victory over the Yellowjackets.
 
Junior Cassidy O'Malley led the Bombers with 26 points, but it was senior Annie Giannone's heroics in the fourth quarter that pushed the Bombers to the win.
 
With just 4:34 left to play, the Bombers and Yellowjackets were tied, 46-46, when Giannone netted a three-pointer to take the lead. She then went on to steal the ball 20 seconds later and score on the fastbreak, giving IC a 51-46 edge with 4:18 left.
 
Giannone had the hot hand again with 3:22 left, as she stole the ball and hit another fastbreak layup to put IC up seven points. She went on to hit four free throws before O'Malley and Grace Cannon sealed the deal with three more points from free throws.
 
With the win, the Bombers improve to 6-1 on the season as they head into the final weekend of the first semester at the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic.
 
The Bombers started things off strong with a 10-0 run in the opening minutes.
 
Giannone hit the first shot of the game at the 9:17 mark, followed up by an O'Malley layup, a Meghan Pickell fastbreak and two more O'Malley buckets to put IC up 10-0 with 6:29 left in the first.
 
The Yellowjackets, however, went on to score eight straight points of their own to cut Ithaca's advantage to two points with 3:37 left in the first.
 
In more back-and-forth action, the Bombers ended the first quarter on a 6-0 run behind four points from O'Malley and a layup from Sara Jackson.
 
Senior Meghan Mazzella opened up the second quarter with a layup, giving the Bombers a double-digit lead again.
 
With 3:19 left in the first half, Rochester's Lauren Foley hit a shot from behind the arc, cutting the Bombers' edge to 22-18 and two free throws from Lena Ethington brought that lead down to just two points.
 
A last-second layup from Giannone gave the Bombers' a 24-20 lead at the break.
 
Although O'Malley hit a layup following a Cannon steal to open up the second half, Rochester score six straight points to tie the game at 26. Ethington netted a jumper before Jamie Boeheim hit two free throws. Boeheim then tied things up with 7:53 left in the third with a layup.
 
The Bombers took the lead back briefly, but Rochester battled back to gain a 35-34 edge with 4:38 left in the third following a Brenna James three-pointer. The Yellowjackets' went on to score five straight points, giving them a six-point lead with just over one minute left in the third.
 
Julianna Okoniewski drained four free throws along with an Ethington free throw, giving Rochester a 40-34 lead.
 
A three-pointer from KellyAnne O'Reilly with 48 seconds left cut it to just one point and a free throw from Ethington built it back up to two to end the quarter.
 
Ithaca picked things up in the fourth quarter to grab a one-point lead on two O'Malley free throws with 6:17 left before Giannone scored her nine points to help secure IC's win.
 
Giannone ended the day with 14 points, four assists and four steals. Rochester was led by Ethington and Camryn Fagan, who each had nine points. Ethington also grabbed 18 rebounds and added a block.
 
Ithaca is back in action to round out first-semester play this weekend when they travel to the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic, hosted by the University of Scranton. The Bombers take on Capital at 4 p.m. on Friday evening before facing Scranton at 4 p.m. on Saturday.