TROY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team held off RPI on Friday to earn a 55-44 victory over the Engineers. The Bombers are now 12-3 on the season with a 7-1 mark in the Liberty League while RPI falls to 8-7 and 3-5.
 
Senior Annie Giannone led all scorers with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Junior Cassidy O'Malley finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two blocks while sophomore Grace Cannon netted 10 points and grabbed six boards.
 
Things started off slow for the Bombers, as RPI jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a layup from Ines Ortea and a 3-pointer from Elizabeth Eckhardt. Ithaca broke its scoring drought at 6:53 on a fastbreak jumper from Cannon.
 
Another jumper from Cannon, a fastbreak from Giannone and a layup from O'Malley gave IC an 8-5 lead with 3:47 left. With less than two minutes left, however, RPI battled back to take a one-point lead.
 
Sophomore Abbi Field hit a layup with 38 seconds left in the first to once again give the Bombers the edge, ending the quarter with a 12-11 IC edge.
 
The second quarter proved to be similar to the first, as the Bombers and Engineers continued to exchange baskets and the lead. In the second quarter alone, the game was tied twice and the lead changed seven times.
 
Ithaca built up the biggest lead of the quarter on either side, taking a five point, 24-19, lead with 3:09 left. After going down by three points following two free throws from RPI's Emily Vallee, the Bombers scored eight straight points, starting with a Giannone layup. O'Malley and Cannon followed that up with back-to-back shots before Giannone added another bucket to close out the run.
 
The Engineers', however, followed that up with their own 8-0 run to build up a 27-24 advantage with 1:39 remaining. After another layup from Giannone, RPI closed out the half with a three-point edge on an Orteo bucket.
 
RPI came out of the break to score the first five points of the half on a Courtney Lewis layup and Eckhardt 3-pointer.
 
Senior Meghan Pickell and O'Malley hit back-to-back jumpers to cut RPI's lead in half before playing nearly three minutes of scoreless basketball. With 4:01 left, Cannon drained a shot from beyond the arc, cutting the Engineers' lead to 34-33.
 
RPI's LaKissa Martin scored four straight points on a layup and two free throws to give the Engineers' a five-point lead once again, and O'Malley closed the third quarter out for the Bombers with a layup, heading into the final period with IC trailing 38-35.
 
Junior KellyAnne O'Reilly drained a 3-pointer 44 seconds into the fourth quarter to tie the game at 38. The lead changed hands once more before Ithaca gained the advantage with 7:54 left and held onto it through the remainder of the game.
 
A layup from O'Malley at 7:54 started a 7-0 run for the Bombers, with all seven points in that time scored by O'Malley or Giannone.
 
The Bombers closed out the game with an 8-0 run to build up the eventual double-digit lead.
 
O'Malley started it off with a three-point play with 1:59 remaining. IC then hit five straight free throws to come away with the 55-44 win.
 
Two players finished in double-digits for the Engineers, as both Eckhardt and Martin scored 14 points.
 
The Bombers are back in action tomorrow at Skidmore. Action is slated to tip-off at 1 p.m.