POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team got back on track with a 69-44 win over Clarkson on Friday night.
 
With the win, the Bombers improve to 17-5 and 12-3 in the Liberty League while Clarkson is now 7-14 and 4-10.
 
Junior Cassidy O'Malley led all scorers with 17 points while sophomore Grace Cannon netted 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. KellyAnne O'Reilly also reached double-figures with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting, including two 3-pointers.
 
Ithaca was in control for much of the game, leading for 34:42 of the 40 minutes played.
 
The first quarter proved to be the closest, as the game was tied three times and Clarkson led briefly. The Golden Knights' Maddie Pratt tied it up at 12 apiece with 2:39 left before the Bombers scored four straight on O'Malley and O'Reilly layups to end the quarter.
 
Ithaca carried that momentum into the second quarter, building up an eight-point lead with 6:54 remaining. A Sara Jackson layup started things off for IC, followed by another layup from Field and a bucket from Cannon.
 
Cannon followed that up with a shot from behind the arc at 6:02, and O'Malley put in another layup to give the Bombers their first double-digit lead of the game, 27-16.
 
Clarkson's Hannah Earl netted a layup and Molly Stewart put in a shot from distance to cut the gap back down to six points, but Cannon rounded out the quarter with back-to-back layups, pushing IC's advantage to 31-21 at the half.
 
The Golden Knights continued to hang on after the break, cutting IC's lead to single-digits, multiple times. A steal from Carly Assimon led to an Emma Buonnano layup with 6:33 left, closing Ithaca's lead to nine points, 38-29.
 
After two Ithaca buckets, Assimon drained a 3-pointer with 4:56 on the clock to leave Clarkson trailing just nine points one again.
 
The Bombers, however, closed out the quarter on 10-2 run to take a 20-point lead.
 
With 3:54 left, Jackson started the run with a jumper, before Field netted another shot, both on passes from Annie Giannone.
 
Giannone hit the front end of a pair of free throws after stealing the ball with 2:49 left, and Jackson added a bucket at 2:28, extending IC's edge to 51-32.
 
Clarkson's Raeanne Dunn put in two free throws before O'Reilly drained a 3-pointer with just three seconds left, ending the quarter with an Ithaca advantage of 54-34.
 
Dunn opened up the fourth quarter with a shot from behind the arc, but those would be the only Clarkson points for more than seven minutes of play.
 
A Megan Yawman 3-pointer with 9:19 left started what would turn into a 12-0 run for the Bombers. Meghan Mazzella and O'Reilly netted back-to-back jumpers before O'Reilly hit another 3-pointer with 5:34 left, giving IC a 64-37 lead. First-year Lindsey Albertelli also put up points on a layup for the final basket of the Bombers' run.
 
Clarkson's Kati Gotch scored five of the Golden Knights' final seven points, while Ithaca got three more points from Albertelli.
 
The Bombers shot 27-for-53 for 50.9 percent and outrebounded Clarkson 44-24.
 
Ithaca is back in action tomorrow afternoon for a 2 p.m. game at St. Lawrence. The Bombers then conclude the regular-season with games next weekend at Bard and Vassar.