ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team extended its win streak to eight games, topping St. Lawrence, 85-55, on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bombers 18-5 overall with a 14-2 mark in Liberty League play while St. Lawrence drops to 16-7 overall and 12-4 in conference action. Ithaca is now a game up on Vassar, who currently sits in second place in the conference, while St. Lawrence drops to third in the rankings.
 
 
Four different players reached double-digits, led by senior Cassidy O'Malley's 18 points. Junior Grace Cannon finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists while senior KellyAnne O'Reilly netted 16 with five rebounds. Junior Juliana Gamboa scored 10 points off the bench ad dished out three assists.
 
Ithaca opened the game with a monster first quarter, outscoring the Saints 27-2.
 
The Bombers set the tone from the jump, going on a 7-0 run to open the quarter. O'Malley hit back-to-back layups to start things off, before Cannon finished on an and-on play to give IC the 7-0 edge.
 
St. Lawrence scored its lone points of the first quarter at the 6:07 mark, as Katie Frederick put in a jumper on a pass from Dylan Watkiss.
 
From there, the Bombers scored 20 unanswered points to head into the second quarter with a whopping 25-point lead. During that stretch, O'Malley scored on two-straight and-one plays and sophomore Melissa Buxton netted a 3-pointer and a layup for five points.
 
Things were more even in the second quarter, as IC narrowly outscored the Saints, 16-14. The Bombers, however, continued to put the offensive pressure on the Saints, opening up the quarter with seven straight points, extending its lead to 32 points, 34-2.
 
Cara Volpe started the quarter off with a layup on a pass from Abbi Field, followed by a jumper from Cannon at 8:32. Gamboa then drilled a shot from distance with just under eight minutes on the clock.
 
St. Lawrence finally broke its scoring drought at 6:36, when Nicole Jeffrey hit the back end of a free throw. Frederick followed that up with two free throws, closing the gap to under 30. The Saints hit two more free throws before finally hitting a shot from the field, as Olivia Middleton scored from behind the arc.
 
With 43 seconds left in the first half, Field put in a jumper on a pass from Gamboa, before Ava McCann hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds remaining, cutting IC's lead to 43-16 at the half.
 
In the first half, Ithaca shot 15-for-36 from the field and forced 13 St. Lawrence turnovers.
 
In the first quarter, Annabella Pugliese drained a 3-pointer for the Saints and Frederick scored on a Fastbreak to close the gap to 45-21 with 8:02 on the clock. A 3-pointer from Dylan Watkiss at 5:13 eventually brought it down to a 23-point deficit, but IC built it back up to 30 points.
 
Cannon scored on a pass from O'Malley before O'Reilly sank a shot from distance. O'Malley finished off the 7-0 run with a jumper to give the Bombers the 58-28 advantage.
 
IC went on to close the quarter with a 6-0 run behind two buckets from O'Reilly and a jumper from Albertelli, giving the Bombers a 69-33 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
A 3-pointer from Gamboa and a layup from Buxton at the 8:35 mark gave the Bombers a 74-34 lead, their largest of the game.
 
The Saints were only able to cut the deficit down to 28 points, 82-54, with 2:34 remaining, but the Bombers continued to play smothering defense, leading to the eventual 30-point win.
 
The Bombers shot 34-for-74 (45.9 percent) from the field and forced 20 St. Lawrence Turnovers for 28 points.
 
Middleton led the way for St. Lawrence with 16 points while Frederick also finished in double-figures with 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
Ithaca is back in action next weekend for the final regular-season games of the year. On Friday evening, IC plays host to Vassar at 5:30 before taking on Bard at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. The game against Bard will also serve as the Bombers' senior day for O'Malley and O'Reilly.