SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team improved to 8-1 in Liberty League play with a 65-42 victory over Skidmore on Saturday afternoon. The win pushes the Bombers into 13-3 on the season as they head into the second half of their conference slate.
 
Sophomore Grace Cannon led the Bombers with 14 points of 7-for-12 shooting. Meghan Pickell notched 12 points on the day while Sara Jackson also reached double-figures with 10 points including two 3-pointers.
 
The Bombers jumped out to take the first lead of the game almost immediately, as Cannon scored off the tip less just seven seconds in. O'Malley followed it up with a layup to take a quick 4-0 lead just two minutes in.
 
Skidmore's Lily Berg put in back-to-back layups to even the score, and after back-and-forth action between both teams, the Thoroughbreds eventually took a 10-9 lead with 56 seconds left on a Sydney Tsutsui 3-pointer.
 
A Jackson jumper with 40 seconds left in the first put things back in the Bombers' favor and gave them an 11-10 edge headed into the second quarter.
 
Two free throws from senior Meghan Mazzella at 7:49 started a 5-0 run for Ithaca, culminating in a Jackson 3-pointer which put IC up 18-11.
 
Ithaca and Skidmore continued to battle, but the Thoroughbreds could only bring it within six points.
 
The Bombers took their biggest lead of the game, at that point, in the final 45 seconds of the quarter. Cannon netted a jumper with 45 seconds to go, before Skidmore's Kate McCarney netted two free throws to cut it back down to an eight-point gap. Pickell, however, hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend IC's lead to 11 points and head into the locker room with a 32-21 advantage.
 
Skidmore's Taylor Ong opened up the third quarter with a layup to bring the gap back down to single digits. The Thoroughbreds were able to cut IC's lead to seven points, twice, in the third quarter, but a 7-0 run from the Bombers pushed it back to double-digits.
 
Pickell scored all seven points of the run for the Bombers, starting with a layup at 6:07. She followed that up with a 3-pointer 1:30 left, before closing it out with two free throws, extending IC's advantage to 45-31.
 
After the Thoroughbred's cut the deficit to 10 points, junior KellyAnne O'Reilly hit a 3-pointer in the final second to send IC into the final quarter with a 50-37 edge.
 
Ithaca continued to dictate the pace in the fourth quarter, outscoring Skidmore 15-5.
 
Cannon scored the first four points for Ithaca in the fourth quarter and Jackson hit double-digits with a 3-pointer at 5:38.
 
Sophomore Megan Yawman netted a free throw a layup midway through the quarter before first-year Lindsey Albertelli put in a bucket for the Bombers. Mazzella scored the final three points of the game on a three-point play with 1:24 left.
 
The Bombers are back in action next weekend when they host William Smith on Friday evening at 5 p.m. and Union on Saturday at 2 p.m.