ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after defeating New England College, 72-54, on Friday evening in Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
Ithaca moves on to face Williams College tomorrow at 5 p.m. The Ephs defeated Albright, 68-46, to advance to the second round.
 
The Bombers, who are now 23-5 on the season, were led by senior Cassidy O'Malley, who poured in 31 points to match her career high, as well as 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. O'Malley finished 12-for-14 from the field and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
 
Junior Grace Cannon and senior KellyAnne O'Reilly finished with 12 points apiece. Cannon also grabbed nine rebounds to finish just shy of a double-double.
 
Things started out slow for the Bombers, who found themselves trailing NEC by double digits in the first quarter.
 
NEC's Rene Hudson scored 14 points in the first quarter to lead the Pilgrims, hitting four shots from 3-point range.
 
The Pilgrims went on a 13-0 run to take their largest lead of the game – 11 points – with 2:57 remaining on the clock. After buckets from O'Malley and Juliana Gamboa, NEC once again led by double-digits, grabbing a 20-10 lead with 1:36 on the clock.
 
The Bombers closed the deficit to seven points at the conclusion of the first quarter, but Hudson drilled another 3-pointer to open the second and keep the gap at 10 points.
 
A 3-pointer from O'Malley with 6:16 remaining started a run for IC. After an and-one play from O'Malley and a layup from O'Reilly, IC trailed by just two points, 30-28, at the 4:10 mark.
 
The teams continued to exchange baskets before an O'Reilly shot from distance with 1:13 remaining tied the game, 36-36. A layup from sophomore Melissa Buxton gave the Bombers a two-point edge but NEC's Samya Robinson connected on a 3-pointer in the final seconds to give the Pilgrims a 39-38 lead at the half.
 
Ithaca finally started to gain some much-needed momentum in the third quarter, leading by as many as nine points.
 
Both teams had a slow start to open the second half and it wasn't until midway through the quarter that IC started to create some distance.
 
O'Reilly started things off with a 3-pointer at 5:29, which gave IC a slight, 45-43, lead. Sophomore Cara Volpe followed that with a layup and O'Reilly added another bucket, pushing the Bombers' lead to six points.
 
A jumper from Cannon and another layup from O'Malley gave Ithaca a 53-44 lead with just 47 seconds on the clock. Hudson, however, ended the game with back-to-back jumpers for NEC, cutting the lead to 53-48 at the close of the third quarter.
 
Ithaca opened up the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run, all scored by O'Malley, to take an 11-point, 59-48 lead.
 
O'Malley then converted on an and-one play and netted a jumper to give IC a 64-50 edge with 5:38 left in regulation. An O'Reilly layup one minute later pushed the advantage to 16 points.
 
The Bombers closed out the quarter with three free throws, taking their biggest lead of the game, 18 points, and notching the 72-54 win.
 
Ithaca shot 29-for-64 (45.3 percent) on the day, including 50 percent in the second quarter. Ithaca forced 17 NEC turnovers and edged the Pilgrims, 44-39, on the boards.
 
The Bombers will take on Williams tomorrow and look to make a return trip to the Sweet 16 with a win.