ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team advance to Saturday's Round of 32 with a 68-58 win over SUNY Poly on Friday evening in Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
The Bombers will face off with No. 14 St. Joseph's (Maine) tomorrow – Saturday, March 2 – at 5 p.m. for a chance to advance to next weekend's Sweet 16. IC is now 23-5 on the season.
 
Sophomore Grace Cannon finished with 21 points – tying her career high – as well as six rebounds, four steals two assists and two blocks. Junior Cassidy O'Malley scored 15 points while pulling down eight rebounds and recording three blocks, three steals and two assists. Allie Tunick finished with nine points, five rebounds and five assists in the win.
 
It was a slow start for Ithaca, as the Bombers only led by a few points in the first half.
 
After SUNY Poly's Kiersten Leos drilled a 3-pointer just 13 seconds in, IC scored five straight on a Cannon layup and an Allie Tunick shot from distance. A 3-pointer from Taylor Aybar, however, put the Wildcats right back in the lead, briefly.
 
The Bombers built up a four point lead – their biggest of the first quarter – multiple times.
 
Senior Meghan Mazzella put in a layup with 4:46 remaining, giving IC a 12-8 edge, but Aybar drained another shot from distance less than one minute later to cut it back down to a single point. A jumper from Leos with 1:41 on the clock gave the Wildcats a 13-12 lead.
 
Ithaca built the lead back up to four at the end of the first quarter, but a quick 3-pointer from Leos to open up the second brought it back down to one.
 
The Bombers gained some momentum when Cannon put in a layup, was fouled and netted the ensuing free throw at the 9:22 mark. O'Malley extended the lead to six points – 22-16 – with a jumper in the paint with 8:15 remaining in the first half.
 
A shot from distance from Tunick with 7:31 left push IC's advance to seven points, but SUNY Poly put up six straight points to come within one, 25-24, midway through the quarter.
 
From there, neither team could gain much momentum, but an Annie Giannone 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to create a slight 36-30 cushion at the half.
 
Ithaca came out of the break firing on all cylinders to take the first double-digit lead of the game for either team. The Bombers held the Wildcats to just eight points in the third quarter.
 
O'Malley scored IC's first six points of the half, hitting two layups and a jumper to give the Bombers a 42-33 advantage at 6:44. Tunick hit another 3-pointer with 5:52 remaining to give the Bombers a 12-point lead and O'Malley followed that up with another layup.
 
Cannon and O'Malley each hit another bucket and Mazzella netted the front end of a pair of free throws to take a 19-point, 52-33, lead with 3:24 left in the third.
 
With 7:40 left to play, Leos put in a layup that would start a 9-0 run for SUNY Poly, closing the gap to 56-47. The Wildcats continued to hustle, eventually cutting IC's lead to eight points with 1:50 remaining on another Leos 3-pointer.
 
Eight points, however, would be the closest the Wildcats would come as the Bombers hit six free throws in the final 1:03.
 
Four Wildcats finished in double-figures, led by Leos with 18 points. Jaida Washington had a 16-point, 15-rebound double-double, while Aybar netted 12 and Molly Burdick scored 10 points.
 
Tomorrow's regional final is set to tip-off at 5 p.m. and will be streamed on ICTV.org/live.