ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team topped William Smith in the quarterfinal round of the Liberty League Tournament, 80-63. With the win, the Bombers advance to Saturday's semifinal game against RIT at 4:30, at Skidmore.
 
Five different Bombers reached double-figures in the win, led by junior Meghan Pickell with 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Fellow junior Allie Tunick tied her career-high with 15 points, which included three, three-pointers.
 
Sophomore Cassidy O'Malley netted 14 points while coming up just short of a triple-double with eight rebounds and eight blocks. Junior Annie Giannone nearly had a double-double with 13 points and nine assists. She also recorded four steals in the win.
 
Senior Julie Yacovoni added 11 points and was one rebound short of a double-double with nine.
 
The Bombers and Herons exchanged baskets for the majority of the first quarter, with neither team taking more than a three-point until the final seconds.
 
A three-pointer from Allie Tunick at the 8:46 mark put Ithaca on the board. From there, the lead changed four more times in less than four minutes.
 
O'Malley netted a jumper midway through the first quarter to give the Bombers a small, three-point lead.
 
Ithaca then held a lead from the 4:55 mark to the 1:34 mark when William Smith's Adrianne Torea hit a layup to push the Herons up by one point.
 
A Yacovoni and-one play put the Bombers ahead again before Giannone hit a layup with just one second left to give IC a 23-19 edge.
 
The Bombers went on an 11-0 run to start the second quarter and build up a 15-point lead.
 
Pickell scored back-to-back buckets which was followed up by a Sara Jackson three-pointer. Allison Spaschak scored on a fast break and Giannone converted two free throws to put Ithaca up 34-19 with 6:44 left in the second quarter.
 
A Tunick three-pointer at the 3:31 mark gave the Bombers their largest lead of the game at that point, 41-24.
 
William Smith closed out the half with a 7-4 run, cutting Ithaca's advantage to 14 points at the half.
 
The Bombers maintained a double-digit lead for the duration of the third quarter.
 
The Herons' Mia Morrison opened the second half up with a layup before senior Erin Woop drained a three from the corner to put IC up 48-33.
 
A Giannone three-pointer at the 5:15 mark pushed Ithaca's advantage to 19 points before the Herons came back to close it to just 10 points.
 
A Juliana Gamboa shot from behind the arc opened up the fourth quarter brought the Bombers' lead down to nine points, their smallest of the second half.
 
Pickell ended the lead back up to double-digits with 6:30 left to play. The closest the Herons would come for the rest of the game would be 10 points on a Gamboa layup at the 6:03.
 
From there, Ithaca closed out the game by outscoring William Smith 16-9, propelling the Bombers to their 20^th win of the season.
 
Ithaca is now 20-6 on the season while William Smith ends their season with a final record of 15-11. The Bombers are back in action against RIT on Saturday. The winner of that game will play for the Liberty League Championship on Sunday at 2 p.m.