ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Grace Cannon netted a career-high 26 points to go along with 11 rebounds to lead the Ithaca College women's basketball team to a 70-59 victory over Cortland on Tuesday evening.
 
Senior Cassidy O'Malley also recorded a double-double – her second of the season is as many games – with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Bombers are now 1-1 on the season as they prepare for this weekend's Tip-Off Classic hosted by Amherst College.
 
Ithaca scored the first four points of the game as O'Malley hit two free throws and sophomore Cara Volpe added a layup on a pass from KellyAnne O'Reilly.
 
The Bombers took a six-point, 8-2, lead midway through the first quarter as Cannon hit back-to-back layups for IC.
 
Cortland, however, had a strong finished to the first quarter, pulling within one as the buzzer sounded. Beth Bonin drained a 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining and Nyia Longford followed suit with another shot from behind the arc in the final second, to cut the Bombers' edge to 12-10.
 
Bonin opened up the second quarter with another 3-pointer just 29 seconds in, which pushed Cortland ahead, 13-12, which was the Red Dragons' first lead of the game.
 
Ithaca quickly took the lead back on an Abbi Field 3-pointer, but Cortland's Longford tied things up less than one minute later with a layup.
 
The Red Dragons and Ithaca went back-and-forth for the remainder of the half, tying the game twice.
 
Cortland scored nine straight points to build up a seven-point lead with just 3:35 remaining. Casey Travers converted on an and-one play before Sarah Tully hit a layup with just over five minutes on the clock. Shannon McGuire then added a bucket before Bonin stole the ball and put in the ensuing layup to give Cortland a 26-19 edge.
 
Ithaca closed out the quarter, however, with a 5-0 run, cutting the Red Dragon's lead to just two points, 26-24, at the half. Grace Cannon started things off with an and-one play with just over three minutes to play. O'Malley then hit a layup on a pass from Megan Yawman to close things out.
 
The second half proved to be similar, as the rivals went back-and-forth quite a bit.
 
Out of the gate, Cannon evented the score at 26 with a jumper just 12 seconds in off a pass from O'Malley. O'Reilly then drilled a 3-pointer to give IC a 29-26 advantage.
 
The Bombers continued to maintain a lead throughout the third quarter, building up as much as a 10-point difference. In the span of one minute, IC hit four free throw – one from sophomore Lindsey Albertelli and three from O'Malley. Cannon then hit a jumper to give the Bombers a 46-36 lead with 1:58 left in the quarter.
 
The Red Dragons, however, ended the third on an 8-0 run to pull within two points at the buzzer.
 
Travers netted a 3-pointer with 56 seconds left before Bonin put in a jumper. Travers then drained another 3-pointer as the buzzer sounding, cutting IC's lead to 48-46.
 
Cortland opened the fourth with a bucket from Landford, evening things up at 48. The game would go on to be tied two more times before Ithaca took the lead and kept it until the final buzzer.
 
With 4:25 remaining, Cannon hit a layup to give IC the one-point edge, which started a run for the Bombers.
 
O'Malley then scored on a pass from field before Cannon netted another jumper with just under two minutes remaining. Cannon, O'Malley and Albertelli all hit free throws to build the Bombers' lead to nine points with just 34 seconds left.
 
Following two more free throws from Cannon and two from first-year Natalie Smith, Ithaca came away with its first victory of the season.
 
The Bombers are back in action on Saturday evening with a 6 p.m. game at Amherst to start off the Tip-Off Classic. IC will then face Babson on Sunday at 2 p.m. to close out competition at the tournament.
 
IC then hits the road to open Liberty League play on Dec. 6 at Bard at Dec. 7 at Vassar. The Bombers conclude the 2019 portion of the schedule on Dec.10 at the University of Rochester.