On Feb. 7, the Ithaca College women’s basketball team secured its ninth straight victory, and many milestones were hit as the Bombers defeated the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds 62-40 for the second time in the 2024-2025 season. With the win, the Bombers clinched a spot in the Liberty League Championship Tournament Playoffs, improving their conference record to 11-1.
Despite the final score showing the Bombers win by 22 points, the Thoroughbreds jumped out to a 17-14 lead. In the first quarter, the Bombers shot just 40% from the field, hitting on six of their 15 shots, while the Thoroughbreds shot 66% hitting eight of 12 shots. Skidmore’s full-court pressure of the Bombers forced three turnovers in the first quarter, giving the Thoroughbreds momentum heading into the second quarter.
It was the second quarter that saw the Bombers’ offense explode for 24 points, as the team hit on five of their eight shots from beyond the arch. After the Thoroughbreds took a 19-14 lead on a layup to start the quarter, the Bombers went on an 8-0 run, capped off by senior guard Jillian Payne’s smooth layup and-one.
After taking the lead back, graduate student guard Emma Waite caught fire, hitting three 3-point shots in the quarter as the Bombers began to pour it on. During the South Hill squad’s game-changing run, sophomore guard Tori Drevna knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Bombers a 10-point lead, marking 200 points for her career, watching as her teammates celebrated on the sideline.
At the end of the quarter, the Bombers took a 38-30 lead into the break, with their biggest lead of the quarter reaching up to 11 points. Waite scored 11 of her 18 game points in the second quarter to power the team into halftime. The South Hill squad was led by the duo of Waite and senior forward Anya Watkins, scoring 11 and 10 points in the first two quarters, respectively.
Coming out of the break, both teams struggled on offense, managing just 17 total points in the third quarter. Both teams shot at or below 25% and neither team reached double digits in scoring. As the Thoroughbreds looked to close the gap by pulling to within six, the Bombers made sure that their slim lead was intact when senior forward Annabella Yorio finished the quarter with a layup plus the foul for the 3-point play, giving the Bombers a nine-point lead. Yorio also reached 600 points in her career, joining Drevna in the milestone category.
With 10 minutes to play, the South Hill squad locked in, holding the Thoroughbreds to just two points the entire quarter. For the first seven minutes of the quarter, the Bombers scored 10 consecutive points, pulling away and putting the icing on the cake for another Liberty League Conference win.
