CANTON, N.Y. – Junior Cassidy O'Malley eclipsed 1,000 career points on Saturday as the Ithaca College women's basketball team topped St. Lawrence, 63-57. The Bombers are now 18-5 on the season with a 13-3 mark in the Liberty League.
 
O'Malley shot 8-for-13 from the field to lead the team with 18 points and seven rebounds and went 2-for-2 from the line. Abbi Field netted a career-high 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 22 minutes of action. KellyAnne O'Reilly was just short of a double-double with nine points and seven rebounds to go with five assists.
 
St. Lawrence hung with the Bombers throughout the game, until Ithaca was able to put create a small cushion in the fourth quarter.
 
Senior Allie Tunick put Ithaca on the board with a 3-pointer at 8:05 in the first quarter. O'Malley followed that up with her first four points of the day, hitting a jumper and two free throws.
 
Although the Bombers continued to hold a lead for the remainder of the first quarter, St. Lawrence was never far behind. Field extended IC's lead to its biggest of the quarter – eight – on a jumper with 27 seconds left, bumping the score to 19-11.
 
St. Lawrence's Dylan Watkiss hit a shot from distance with 11 seconds left in the first to close the gap to five points before Ava McCann drilled a 3-pointer to open up the second and cut IC's edge to 19-17.
 
A layup from the Saints' Erin Kumler at 5:59 tied the game at 21 points apiece and a 3-pointer from Marlee Gunn gave St. Lawrence its first lead since early in the game, 24-23.
 
The teams exchanged baskets for the next several minutes before back-to-back buckets from Annie Giannone and O'Malley gave the Bombers a slight, 31-28, edge at halftime.
 
Ithaca came out of the break to score the first four points, on shots from sophomore Grace Cannon and O'Malley, gaining a seven-point, 35-28 advantage. St. Lawrence would go on to cut that back down to two points with 4:57 left on a Gunn 3-pointer.
 
O'Malley netted her 1,000^th career point on a jumper in the paint with 2:39 left on the clock in the third quarter. She became the 14^th player in program history to reach the milestone.
 
Action went back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter, with Ithaca building up a 46-39 lead on an O'Reilly 3-pointer with 2:00 left. Kumler and Watkiss, however, drained back-to-back 3-pointers for the Saints to come within just one point of the Bombers, with 43 seconds remaining.
 
The fourth quarter proved to be similar to the first three, as the Bombers and Saints exchanged baskets. Ithaca gained brief momentum several times, but St. Lawrence was there each time to end hopes of a run.
 
After a free throw from St. Lawrence's Meghan O'Connor brought the Saints within four points, 57-53, O'Reilly drilled a 3-pointer to bump the Bombers' lead right back up to seven points.
 
O'Reilly followed that up with another 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining, giving IC a 63-54 cushion, leading to the eventual six-point win.
 
Two Saints reached double-figures as McCann led St. Lawrence with 13 points, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc while Kumler had 12.
 
The Bombers are back in action next weekend to close out the regular-season portion of their schedule. On Friday evening, IC will head to Bard for a 5 p.m. contest before taking on league-leading Vassar at 2 p.m. on Saturday.