Jan. 31: The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team had five players in double figures on Saturday, as the Saints topped RIT 81-68 in Canton, NY. The home team used a late flurry of offense, including a 6-for-7 stretch from behind the arc to pull away from their conference foe and remain tied atop the Liberty League standings.
St. Lawrence (15-4, 10-1) was led by senior
Kara McDuffee's double-double of 21 points and 15 rebounds. Other Saints in double digits in scoring were
Allison Cady and
Cara Waterson who had 13 points each and
Lauren Quattrocchi and
Jenny Scudder, who scored 12 points each. Sarah Wolcott was the leading scoring for the Tigers (8-11, 2-8), as she went 9-of-13 from the field for 18 points. However, the Tigers' 2-for-12 shooting from behind the arc simply didn't match up to the Saints' 12-of-18 mark.
"We met a formidable opponent today who played very well and we were very flat in the first half. Our defense was poor and we didn't have the energy or effort that we needed," said St. Lawrence head coach
Dan Roiger. "In the second half, we had a lot more determination on both ends and, even though we were grinding for a while, we finally got the run we needed in the last seven minutes."
Though St. Lawrence jumped out to an early 10-2 advantage, it was RIT that owned the lead for the majority of the first half. The Tigers shot the ball well and worked to get quality shots, and a 6-0 run to close out the half helped the Tigers match its largest lead of five at 37-32 at intermission. McDuffee had seven points and nine rebounds in the period, but her team was hampered by eight turnovers.
St. Lawrence used a spurt of three straight lay-ups to pull even at 46-46 with 13:40 to go, but RIT responded in style and once again earned a four point edge midway through the half. With 8:01 remaining, Scudder started to heat up, as she led a major charge by the home team that pushed them to the victory. Scudder was a perfect 4-for-4 from three and the Saints were 7-for-8 from behind the arc in a 7:00 minute stretch as the Saints pulled away up 11 with 1:43 to play. RIT simply couldn't match the Saints' offensive burst, as the Tigers went 2-for-10 down the stretch to give St. Lawrence an 81-68 win.
"We had two players come off the bench, Jenny and Cara, that were instrumental in our win. Cara gave us a huge spark with several back-to-back drives and Jenny played defense on the posts and hit some big shots from the arc in the final minutes," added Coach Roiger. "Kudos to those two, and a great job by our three captains, who combined for 16 assists and only turnovers while each hitting double digits in points."
St. Lawrence will host Bard and Vassar next weekend, Friday and Saturday, February 6 and 7 in the Burkman Gymnasium. A victory over the Raptors on Friday at 6:00pm would clinch a playoff berth for the Saints.
