ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team pulled away for a comfortable 70-49 victory at Bard on Friday night despite a tight battle in the first half.
 
The team remains perfect against Bard all-time with the victory, improving to a 17-0 historical record against the Raptors. Ithaca's win comes on the back of a continued offensive surge for Grace McNamara, who set a season-high in points for the second consecutive game, dropping 20 points. Tori Drevna was Ithaca's only other double-digit scorer with 10. Morgan Kottka was the sole double digit scorer for Bard with just 10 points, but Lexi Miller additionally contributed 10 rebounds.
 
The first half was a tight back and forth battle, and no team led by more than four points at any point during the first quarter. The four-point lead came on the back of an Ithaca 6-0 run fueled by a pair of McNamara jumpers. However, Bard scored 10 of the next 15 points to retake the lead by the time the quarter ended, with Kottka hitting a pair of threes. Bard led by just one point to end the first, 15-14.
 
With about seven minutes left in the half, Zoraida Icabalceta scored a triple to put Ithaca back up by four, and a Madison Gill free throw expanded the Bomber lead to five, but Bard followed that up with an 11-2 run of their own. A three by Jessica Martin capped off the run and gave Bard their first multi-possession lead of the night at 31-27, a lead they took into the halftime break.
 
Aislynn Dixon made a three-pointer for Bard early in the second half to put the Raptors up by five, their largest lead of the day. However, Ithaca pulled away down the stretch of the quarter, finishing the third on an extended 18-2 run to go up by 11. McNamara continued to thrive in the paint, and Drevna began to find her shot, scoring seven points in the quarter after just three in the first half. An Erin Tobes layup was the only score for Bard in the final eight minutes of the quarter.
 
Ithaca continued to pad their newfound double-digit lead in the final quarter of action. They scored an additional eight unanswered points to begin the quarter, with Mary Bernat contributing four of those on a pair of layups and McNamara reaching the 20-point marker. The junior forward would finish the contest a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor. With just over three minutes in the game, Ava Gregory hit what was just Bard's second three-pointer of the half, and a pair of Kottka free throws cut the Bomber lead back to 14. However, that was the closest Bard came the rest of the way as Ithaca built back their lead in the final minutes and held on for the win. 
 
Ithaca improved to 8-14 on the season and 5-10 in Liberty League play with the win. Every game will matter the rest of the way as the team fights to stay alive in the Liberty League playoff race. One of their tougher remaining tests comes tomorrow when they travel to RPI, tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.