SELECTION SHOW

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team claimed the 2019 Liberty League Championship – its first since joining the league in 2017 – on Sunday afternoon with a 75-73 overtime win over RIT.
 
Senior Meghan Pickell poured in a career-high 23 points, all in the second half, to lead the Bombers past the Tigers and earn Most Outstanding Player honors. She also grabbed eight rebounds and added a steal.
 
Ithaca gained momentum at the start of overtime and built up a five-point, 72-67 lead with just 32 seconds left following a layup from Pickell and free throws from Grace Cannon and Annie Giannone.
 
An and-one play from RIT's Brooke Stanley with 24 seconds left cut IC's lead to just two points before Cannon extended it with a free throw.
 
With 15 seconds left on the clock, RIT's Cori Okada, who scored a game-high 32 points, drilled a step-back shot from distance to tie the game, 73-73.
 
As the clock ticked down, Giannone split defenders for a layup with just 3.3 seconds left to take the final lead of the game. The Tigers got up one last-chance heave in the final second, but it fell short.
 
The first quarter started off slow for IC as the Bombers fell behind 10-2 with 6:10 remaining. Allie Tunick drained a 3-pointer at 5:52 to cut the deficit to five points before Ithaca ended the quarter with a 5-0 run in the final 1:11.
 
Cassidy O'Malley hit a jumper with 1:11 remaining and Sara Jackson followed it up with a shot from distance with 40 seconds on the clock to cut RIT's advantage to 19-15.
 
Junior KellyAnne O'Reilly and O'Malley hit back-to-back layups in the opening minutes of the second quarter to tie the game at 19 apiece with 7:52 left.
 
Ithaca kept things close, closing the gap to just one point with 5:24 remaining. Sophomore Megan Yawman drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to cut RIT's edge to 23-22.
 
Four straight points from Okada built the lead back up to five for the Tigers before O'Reilly hit a shot from behind the arc to stop their momentum. RIT, however, would score four more in a row on buckets from Okada and Stanley to extend its lead to 31-25.
 
Pickell hit a jumper to start things off in the third quarter and she would eventually go on to tie it for IC, 36-36, with 4:41 remaining. The Bombers tied the game twice more before taking their first lead of the game on a Meghan Mazzella jumper at 1:31.
 
Ithaca gained momentum off that, taking a five-point, 46-41 lead 33 seconds later on a Yawman 3-pointer.
 
Stanley and Tara Lynch closed out the quarter with one layup apiece in the final 30 seconds, cutting IC's lead to 46-45 heading into the final minutes of regulation.
 
Okada snagged the lead back 30 seconds into the fourth quarter with a three-point play, but the Bombers quickly tied it up and took the lead again on two free throws from Cannon.
 
The fourth quarter would end up tied six different times and neither team took more than a three-point lead at any time.
 
With 34 seconds remaining in regulation, Stanley hit a pair of free throws to give RIT a 65-62 advantage, but Pickell hit a clutch 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to tie it up and force overtime.
 
O'Malley also reached double-figures for IC, scoring 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds, while also notching three steals and three assists. Giannone dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with six points and six rebounds.
 
With the win, the Bombers earned the Liberty League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and await their fate on Monday afternoon when the selection show airs at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.