The Ithaca College women’s basketball team picked up a 63–46 victory on Feb. 10 over the Clarkson University Golden Knights to go 2–0 for the weekend after defeating the St. Lawrence University Saints 60–51 the night prior.
The Ithaca College community raised awareness for Breast Cancer, with players wearing special pink warm-ups and pink accessories to commemorate the occasion.
The Bombers got a glimpse of the Golden Knights in their previous matchup on Jan. 12, which turned out to be a 72–59 win for the South Hill squad. It also gave them a look at the Liberty League’s only team to primarily run a 2-3 zone on defense, which gave the Bombers a different scheme to prepare for, especially on a short turnaround.
The first quarter was a defensive shellacking by the Bombers, who held the Golden Knights scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game. Graduate student guard Camryn Coffey got the Bombers rolling with seven first-quarter points to lead an 18–6 effort in the first quarter.
The second quarter was a ten minute masterclass on how to attack a two-three zone. The Bombers deconstructed the zone with efficient passing and cashed in on opportunities in the paint, with junior forward Anya Watkins and sophomore forward/guard Avery McPeek going to work down low. The defense continued to hold strong, allowing the Bombers to build a 33–15 lead to take into halftime.
The Golden Knights showed signs of life out of the gate to start the second half, finally breaking through the Bombers’ defense on a consistent basis. Golden Knights’ sophomore forward Bella Doyle logged 10 of her 12 points in the quarter. Despite the offensive awakening for the Golden Knights, they still could not get it done at the other end, as the Bombers’ scoring machine kept humming, dropping 20 points in the third to make it 53–32 going into the final stretch.
The fourth quarter was the closest one yet, with the Bombers finally slowing down and the Golden Knights picking up speed, but it proved to be too little, too late. The Bombers took their foot off the gas pedal and let their bench bring them home to victory.
The Bombers made their living off of dumping the ball inside, scoring 42 points in the paint off of 18 assists. Head coach Dan Raymond said that he was pleased with the fluidity on offense but wanted to see a complete game on the other side of the ball.
“Consistency is the one thing that we talked about,” Raymond said. “We held them to 15 points in the first half, and they scored 16 in the first five minutes of the third quarter, so that was obviously disappointing for us, but I think offensively when we recognize how to attack like that we got the ball where we wanted it.”
Controlling the game from the beginning allowed the Bombers to empty the bench and flex its depth, with the team getting 24 points from nonstarters. Raymond said that he enjoyed the opportunity for the whole team to share the spotlight.
“It means a lot for us to be able to get our players who don’t typically get a lot of game time on to the floor and to get them recognized,” Raymond said. “The one thing we consistently stress to all of our players is that their roles are really important, so even the kids who don’t get on the floor a lot are making us better.”
First-year guard Grace McNamara, who put up six of those 24 points off the bench, agrees with her head coach and said it was good to get everyone some minutes and views the Bombers’ depth as a strong point for the team.
“It was really nice to get in and get some minutes,” McNamara said. “We’ve been working hard all week in practice, but it shows that we’re a deep team and that we work together as one unit.”
The Bombers will end their regular season with another doubleheader beginning against Bard College at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in Ben Light Gymnasium.
