GENEVA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team cruised to a 81-40 victory over winless William Smith on Tuesday night in Geneva in Liberty League action inside Bristol Gymnasium.

William Smith led 23-20 early in the second quarter, but the Bombers went on a major run down the stretch of the half and did not look back from there. Sophomore guards Madison Gill and Kenzie Perluke led the charge on offense, scoring 11 points apiece for the Bombers. Mary Bernat was the lead rebounder with eight boards. 

William Smith also had a pair of 11-point scorers in Ava Lobozzo and Carly Scott. However, the bench depth of the Bombers made a major difference in this one, with the team receiving 48 of their 81 points from bench players. There were eight different Bombers who scored five or more points.

The game started off as a back-and-forth battle, with Gill leading the charge for the Bombers offense early. Gill went four for her first four from the field, with one of those shots coming from beyond the arc. The duo of Lobozzo and Scott helped the Herons keep up, combining for 15 points and four triples. The first quarter ended with the Bombers holding onto a narrow 20-19 lead. No team led by more than four at any point during the quarter.

William Smith scored the first four points of the second quarter to bring their lead to three. However, a few minutes into the quarter, Ithaca took charge and began to pull away, going on an extended 21-3 run. Junior forward Grace McNamara was the sparkplug in this run, scoring six points in a two-minute span to expand Ithaca's lead from three to seven. By the halftime break, the Bombers had extended their lead even further, ahead of William Smith by a score of 41-26.

Ithaca's lead only continued to grow in the third quarter, as the team outscored William Smith 25-7 over the course of the third, doubling up their total score at 66-33. It was a true team effort this quarter, with the Bombers receiving points from nine different sources. Junior guard Tori Drevna contributed four points in the first three minutes to kick off the extended run.

The large lead headed into the fourth quarter made way for four first-year Bombers to make their regular season debuts: Kate Mocho, Emma Phelan, Megan Cassidy, and Sonya Benhassen. Phelan notably scored four points within her first four minutes of action. The team did not slow down in the final minutes, continuing to double William Smith's point total.

The Bombers improved to 4-5 on the season and 2-1 in Liberty League play with the victory. They won't play again until the 2026 calendar year. They'll kickoff 2026 with a game at SUNY Geneseo on January 3.