After losing two straight games for the first time in 2009, the Bombers came back home with their sights set on Hartwick College and Alfred University. Now tied at the top of the Empire 8 conference with Utica College and Stevens Institute of Technology, Ithaca needed to play well to stay in the hunt to host the Empire 8 playoffs.
For the first 16 minutes in Friday’s game against Hartwick College, the two teams battled, and it looked like the Hawks would improve on their last blowout performance against the Bombers.
With the score 24–21, the Bombers turned on the afterburners, hitting four threes in a 16–2 run that finished out the half.
“Basketball is pretty much a game of runs,” senior Tracy Bradley said. “When you get a chance to break away you have to take it. We just need to not rush and force things when on a roll.”
During that span, the Bombers took good shots and played solid defense, which set the tone for the rest of the game.
“We had been playing well before the run,” sophomore Elissa Klie said. “We hadn’t been finishing our chances.”
The Bombers played well and outmatched the Hawks in a lopsided 70–49 victory. Bradley led the team with 11 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Riley Dunn recorded a career-high 10 points and three rebounds off of the bench.
After that blowout, Ithaca needed to stay focused for today’s game against Alfred University, as every game is still vital, and will be for the rest of the season.
Focus was not a problem for the team though, as every one of the 14 Bombers scored en route to a 64–39 victory.
“Any game you can get everybody to score is a great game,” senior Megan Rumschik said. “It is really hard for teams to defend that.”
On defense, the team held Alfred to just 21 percent shooting from the field. Leading that defense was Rumschik, who held Alfred’s leading scorer Lyndsay Murphy to just two points on 0–15 shooting from the field.
The Bombers will look to build on the two dominant victories as they take on Stevens Institute of Technology at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home.