SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team used balanced scoring to push past Union en route to a 56-38 Liberty League win on Friday evening.
 
Ithaca is now 8-2 on the season with a 3-0 mark in conference play. The victory also marks Head Coach Dan Raymond's 400th career win, which now stands at 400-144. He is 16 wins away from hitting his 400th win as IC's head coach.
 
Despite an all-around slow start, the Bombers eventually took a six-point lead to end the first quarter.
 
With just over four minutes left in the first quarter, Ithaca held a slight, 5-4, advantage over the Dutchwomen before a jumper from Elly Vaughan gave Union the lead. However, senior Allie Tunick drained a three-pointer with 3:25 left to take back the edge.
 
Juniors Cassidy O'Malley and KellyAnne O'Reilly hit back-to-back layups for the Bombers, to take a six-point lead. Union's Nicole Conley put two more points up in the final minute, but an Abbi Field layup with 33 seconds left gave IC the 14-8 edge at the end of the quarter.
 
Things remained close through the second quarter, with Ithaca leading by as many as seven and as few as two points.
 
A layup from O'Reilly and a three-pointer from Sara Jackson pushed IC's advantage to 19-12 with 4:17 left in the first half.
 
The Dutchwomen went on to score five straight points, all from Amber Raisner, cutting the Bombers' lead to just two points with 3:34 left to play.
 
Ithaca closed out the first half with five straight points, starting with a layup from Meghan Pickell at the 3:06 mark. Jackson netted another layup for the Bombers before Pickell rounded things out with a free throw, giving IC a 24-17 lead at the break.
 
The Bombers opened things up in the third quarter, taking their first double-digit lead less than midway through.
 
Senior Annie Giannone drained a three just 44 seconds in. Grace Cannon hit another three for IC with 7:58 left, pushing the Bombers' lead to 30-20. After a Union layup from Vaughan, Tunick hit another shot from behind the arc, pushing IC's edge to 11 points.
 
The two teams exchanged points from several minutes, a layup from Joana Santos with just 22 seconds left in the quarter cut IC's lead to 39-32 headed into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
 
Union opened up the fourth quarter with a layup, cutting the Bombers' edge to just five points. The Dutchwomen closed the gap to five points twice more before Ithaca started to pull away.
 
Pickell hit two free throws at 5:47, starting a 13-0 run for the Bombers that would close out the game. Pickell then hit a jumper before Cannon netted a layup with 3:27 left, once again giving the Bombers a double-digit lead.
 
Cannon netted a three with 2:36 left and the Bombers' ended things with back-to-back layups from Pickell and Cannon to come away with the 56-38 win.
 
Cannon was the lone IC player to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds. Pickell netted nine points and grabbed seven rebounds while O'Reilly scored nine points and had three rebounds.
 
O'Malley scored six points to go with six rebounds while Tunick scored six points and grabbed five rebounds. Giannone scored five points and dished out six assists.
 
Vaughan led all scorers with 11 points for the Dutchwomen.
 
The Bombers are back in action tomorrow when they travel to William Smith for a 2 p.m. contest.