The Ithaca College women’s basketball team defeated SUNY Cortland 78–58 on Nov. 28 as they hosted the Red Dragons in an early season rivalry matchup.

The Bombers never trailed in the game as they started the game on an 8–0 run and maintained control throughout.

Junior guard Annie Giannone led the way for the Blue and Gold with 11 points, helping her team guarantee the victory. The Bombers shared the scoring as 12 of the 16 players got on the board, including 49 points from their bench.

The full–court pressure helped the Blue and Gold slow down the Red Dragons offense right out of the gate and they never let up. Defense was the name of the game as they forced 29 total turnovers that led to easy offense from the start.

Head coach Dan Raymond said his team has the ability to defend and adjust to different types of offense.

“We always make adjustments depending on what the opponent is doing and how they are breaking.” Raymond said. “And it’s always going to be pressure, let’s make the opponent go faster than they are capable of going.”

The Bombers just faced their first loss of the season on Nov. 25 during their trip to California, and were trying to get the season back on track.

Junior guard Allie Tunick said how the time on the road played a role mentally in the game plan against Cortland.

“This was going to be a big mental challenge coming off of the trip to California, and we had a lot of travel time so we were very physically tired.” Tunick said. “So this game was all about coming together as a team and playing together.”

Senior guard Kerry McHugh attempted to bring the Red Dragons back with an 18–point effort, which was not enough to spark the Dragons offense.

The Bombers will next travel to Vassar College at 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 in Poughkeepsie, New York in their first conference matchup as a member of the Liberty League.