ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team won its second-straight Liberty League title on Sunday afternoon with a 73-71 win over second-seeded Vassar. The Bombers are now 22-5 on the season and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, to be seeded tomorrow.
 
Junior Grace Cannon hit the game-winner, a jumper from the left corner on a pass from junior Juliana Gamboa, with just .3 seconds left on the clock. The ball circled the rim before falling in and sealing Ithaca's fate.
 
Senior Cassidy O'Malley led the way with 20 points, five rebounds, six blocks, four steals and four assists. While Cannon finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
 
Senior KellyAnne O'Reilly netted 16 points to go with four rebounds on the day. O'Reilly was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after scoring a career-high 30 points in the semifinal game yesterday, in addition to her 16 points today.
 
The game started with back-and-forth action between the two teams. A 3-pointer from O'Reilly at the 7:40 mark followed by a Cannon layup off an offensive rebound gave IC a 10-6 lead.
 
Two-straight buckets from Vassar tied things up at 10 before the Bombers scored the next six points to take a 16-10 lead.
 
Sophomore Cara Volpe, who finished with eight points and nine rebounds, started the run wit a layup following an offensive rebound. Megan Yawman then notched a steal for a Fastbreak layup and O'Malley ended the run with a jumper at 4:51.
 
Ithaca took its biggest lead of the corner with 3:18 on the clock on a layup from Volpe, following an offensive rebound.
 
Vassar ended the quarter on a 5-2 run to close IC's lead to 22-17.
 
The second quarter would go on to be tied up four different times.
 
An and-one play from O'Malley in the opening minute of the second quarter gave Ithaca a six-point, 25-19 lead. After another six-point lead less than 30 seconds, Vassar scored six points in a row to tie it up at 27 with 6:03 on the clock.
 
The Brewers tied it up again on a Jackie Cenan bucket 30 seconds later.
 
Gamboa hit a 3-pointer to give the Bombers the lead once again, but Vassar's Sophie Nick quickly answered with a 3-ball, tying things up at 32 with 4:21 remaining.
 
After Vassar tied it up for the final time of the first half, Ithaca scored seven unanswered points to take a 44-37 edge. A layup from Melissa Buxton with just 24 left on the clock kept Ithaca's lead at seven points, 46-39, heading into the third quarter.
 
The third quarter was even between the teams, as both put up 17 points.
 
Ithaca built up its biggest lead of the game in the third quarter, 11 points, with 3:24 remaining on the clock.
 
After opening the half with back-and-forth action, the Bombers went on an 8-0 run to take the double-digit lead. O'Malley and O'Reilly hit back-to-back jumpers to start things off before Gamboa and O'Malley netted two layups.
 
A free throw from Cenan with 1:09 remaining in the block cut the Bombers' advantage down to five points, but a Cannon jumper with 52 seconds left boosted it back up to a seven-point, 63-56, lead heading into the final quarter.
 
After Nick his a pair of free throws for Vassar to open the final quarter, the Bombers regained a lead of seven, twice. A layup from O'Malley with 5:16 remaining gave IC the 67-60.
 
Vassar continued to battle, first cutting the lead down to three points with 2:16 left. A layup from Cenan with just 50 seconds remaining gave the Bombers just a one-point edge, 69-68.
 
With 23 seconds remaining, an and-one play from Nick tied the game up at 71 points apiece, paving the way for Cannon's game winner at the end.
 
For Vassar, Cenan finished with a team-high 25 points and six assists. Nick notched a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Bombers shot 27-for-62 (43.5 percent) on the day, including a 58 percent clip in the third quarter. As a team, Ithaca combined for 10 blocks, six from O'Malley alone.
 
The 2020 Division III women's basketball selection show is set for Monday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m. on ncaa.com. The Bombers now await their fate to find out where they will be playing for the first and second rounds next weekend.