BRUNSWICK, Me. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team's historic season came to an end on Saturday evening with an 87-61 loss to No. 1/3 Bowdoin in the National Quarterfinal. The Bombers end the season at 25-6 after becoming just the second team in program history to reach the Elite 8.
 
Ithaca led just one time during the game – in the first quarter – but kept things close throughout the first half of play. It wasn't until the third quarter that Bowdoin came out firing on all cylinders to build up a double-digit lead that the Bombers could not dig out of.
 
Bowdoin's Hannah Graham opened up the game with a 3-pointer just 1:02 in to take a quick lead. Junior Cassidy O'Malley, however, put IC on the board nine seconds later with a layup and senior Annie Giannone gave the Bombers their only lead of the game with 8:05 left in the first with a shot from distance.
 
The Polar Bears went on to tie it up and build up a nine-point lead midway through the quarter, but seniors Allie Tunick and Meghan Pickell hit two quick back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Bombers within three again, 14-11, with just under four minutes remaining.
 
Bowdoin went up nine points again with 1:07 remaining on an Abby Kelly layup before Megan Yawman hit a jumper with 30 seconds, cutting the Polar Bears' advantage to 22-15 heading into the second quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the Polar Bears built up a 24-17 lead in the first minute of play, but senior Sara Jackson drilled a 3-pointer with 8:51 remaining.
 
In the ensuing minutes, Bowdoin built the lead back up to seven points, but Ithaca went on a 6-0 run to come within one point.
 
Sophomore Grace Cannon started things off with a jumper midway through the quarter and senior Meghan Mazzella followed that up with another bucket with 4:31 remaining. Mazzella then hit a layup at 3:19, closing the gap to 32-31.
 
Bowdoin's Maddie Hasson hit a free throw and Graham drilled a 3-pointer in the final minute to give the Polar Bears a slight 36-31 advantage at the half.
 
The Polar Bears came out in the second half to outscore Ithaca 23-18. Bowdoin scored the first four points on a layup from Taylor Choate and a jumper from Abby Kelly to go up 40-31.
 
With 7:29 remaining, Kelly netted a 3-pointer to give Bowdoin its first double-digit lead of the game. Choate then hit a layup and a free throw for the and-one play to put the Polar Bears head 13 points, the biggest of the game at that point.
 
The Bombers got it down to single-digits again with 2:58 remaining on an O'Malley layup, but the Polar Bears would go on to build it up to 15 points with under one minute on the clock.
 
In the fourth and final quarter, Bowdoin outscore the Bombers 28-12, shot 60 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range.
 
With less than five minutes remaining, a layup from Hasson gave Bowdoin an 18-point, 73-55 lead. Giannone hit a jumper with 3:39 left on the clock, but the Polar Bears were relentless on offense, continually extending their lead en route to the 26-point win.
 
In her final game as a Bomber, Giannone led with 12 points, two assists and two steals. O'Malley also reached double-figures with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
 
All five starters for Bowdoin scored in double-figures, led by Choate's 21-point, six-assist performance. Kelly finished with 18 points while Hasson had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Samantha Roy scored 13 and Graham added 10.
 
The loss ends the careers of seniors Giannone, Mazzella, Jackson, Pickell and Tunick.