POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball bounced back on Saturday afternoon to dominate Clarkson, 77-63. The Bombers are now 9-4 on the season with a 6-1 mark in Liberty League play.
 
Senior Cassidy O'Malley scored a team-high 13 points to go along with five rebounds and two blocks. Junior Megan Yawman went 4-for-5 from 3-point range to finish with a career-high 12 points.
 
The first quarter proved to be a close one, as the Bombers held a narrow, 20-19, edge over the Golden Knights at the end of the first 10 minutes.
 
Ithaca held a lead for the majority of the opening quarter, as Clarkson moved ahead just twice.
 
After the Bombers took a 4-2 lead in the first 3:30, a 3-pointer from Clarkson's Hannah Earl at the 7:00 mark gave the Golden Knights a brief 5-4 edge.
 
IC, however, went on to take as much as a seven-point lead with 3:20 on the clock. Lindsey Albertelli put in a layup on a pass from Cara Volpe before Alex Heuwetter drilled a shot from behind the arc, pushing the Bombers advantage to 14-7.
 
Clarkson went on to chip away at Ithaca's lead and eventually took a brief 19-18 lead with just 52 seconds remaining in the period. IC's Abbi Field ended the quarter with a layup to give the Bombers an edge heading into the second quarter.
 
After the Golden Knights' Mariah Benavides drilled a 3-pointer to tie things up at 22 in the opening 33 seconds of the second quarter.
 
Yawman hit the first of her 3-pointers at the 8:58 mark, which was followed by 3-pointer from KellyAnne O'Reilly, giving the Bombers a six-point, 28-22 advantage.
 
In the final 3:15 of the first half, IC outscored Clarkson 6-1 – four of which were scored by O'Malley – to take a 38-29 lead heading into the halftime break.
 
The Bombers came out of halftime firing on all cylinders as Yawman drained back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 1:19, extending IC's lead to 44-29.
 
Ithaca continued to score on the offensive end and dominate on the defensive end, as Clarkson was held to just three points midway through the third quarter.
 
A layup from Volpe with 4:43 on the clock pushed IC over the twenty-point lead threshold for the first time in the game, making the score 52-32. Clarkson was unable to close the gap to fewer than 20 points through the remainder of the quarter.
 
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Ithaca built up its biggest lead of the game – 26 points – after scoring six straight. Albertelli started the stretch with a layup and first-year Natalie Smith hit back-to-back buckets to put IC up 70-44 with 5:34 remaining.
 
With 1:31 left, Clarkson's Emma Buonanno put in a layup and Rachel Marion drained a 3-pointer to close the gap to 16 points, 77-61. One final basket from Buonanno with 20 seconds remaining resulted in the final 77-63 score at the buzzer.
 
Ithaca shot 50 percent on the day (29-for-58) and 41.7 percent from 3-point range (5-for-12). The Bombers' bench accounted for 33 points against the Golden Knights and there 46 points scored in the paint.
 
Buonanno led the way for Clarkson with 22 points while Marion had 11 points and six rebounds.
 
The Bombers are back in action next weekend with a Friday game against Union College at 5:30 p.m. and a Saturday contest against RPI at 2 p.m.