EWING, N.J. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team opened up its 2019-20 slate with a 75-61 loss at The College of New Jersey on Friday evening.
 
Senior Cassidy O'Malley finished with a double-double of 14 points – all in the second half – and 12 rebounds while junior Grace Cannon netted 12 points and was just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Sophomore Lindsey Albertelli also reached double digits for IC, scoring a career-high 10 points.
 
The Lions jumped out a four-point lead to open the game following back-to-back jumpers from Shannon Devitt and Jen Byrne. Cannon, however, hit two jumpers in a row to score her first four points of the game and pull even with TCNJ.
 
A layup from Byrne with just under four minutes left in the first quarter put the Lions up five points, 11-6.
 
Cannon cut the lead to three with a layup, but TCNJ's Rachel Gazzola drilled a 3-pointer at the 2:54 mark to push the lead back up to six. Another 3-pointer from Byrne with 1:42 remaining in the first gave the Lions a 17-8 edge heading into the second quarter.
 
The Bombers opened up the second quarter with back-to-back layusps from Albertelli, cutting the Lions' advantage to 17-12. TCNJ, however, took its first double-digit lead of the game with an Elle Camilluca 3-pointer and a jumper from Gazzola with just over seven minutes left.
 
Another 3-pointer from Cimilluca with 6:35 remaining on the clock extended TCNJ's lead to 25-12.
 
Ithaca cut the lead back down to single digits following two layups from Cannon, one of which was on a fast break. The Bombers then added buckets from Megan Yawman and Albertelli to bring IC within seven points, 27-20.
 
The Lions, however, added five straight points to head into halftime with a 33-22 edge over IC.
 
O'Malley netted her first points of the game with a layup one minute into the second half. Sophomore Cara Volpe then stole the ball and put in a layup less than one minute later to cut TCNJ's lead to 35-26.
 
The Bombers once again brought it down to a seven-point deficit with 6:49 remaining, following a layup and jumper from O'Malley. Volpe added another two points for IC just over a minute later to pull within five.
 
Following back-and-forth action, IC cut the gap to five points once again with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter. O'Malley netted a jumper in the paint before senior KellyAnne O'Reilly stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak.
 
The Lions went on to outscore IC 10-2 in the final 2:17 to head into the final period with an 18-point, 59-41 lead.
 
Sydney Blum started the run with a jumper at the 2:17 mark and hit two free throws 40 seconds later. Gazzola hit a layup for the Lions before Blum added another bucket with just under one minute left on the clock. Morgan Heller closed the quarter out with two free throws for TCNJ.
 
The Lions opened up the final quarter with five straight points – all from Devitt – which put TCNJ up 64-41.
 
Two free throws from Devitt and a 3-pointer from Byrne with 6:48 remaining pushed the Lions' lead to the largest of the game, 24 points.
 
The Bombers outscored TCNJ, 7-1, in the closing minutes of the game, but it was not enough to close the large gap.
 
First-year Natalie Smith hit a jumper with 2:20 remaining. O'Reilly then followed that with a steal and a full court pass to Alyssa Spady, who put in the layup. Smith netted a free throw before Albertelli hit a layup with 1:03 left in the game to cut TCNJ's lead down to 13 points, 74-61.

Byrne led all scorers with 26 points for the Lions, including six 3-pointers, as well as six rebounds. Devitt also finished in double-figures with 19 points and eight rebounds.
 
Ithaca is back in action on Tuesday evening with a home game against Cortland at 7 p.m. It is the lone home game of 2019 for the Bombers, as they hit the road against next weekend for a tournament at Amherst.