SUNY Potsdam outscored the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team 28-11 in the fourth quarter to lift the Bears to a 66-61 win over the Saints during non-conference play on Saturday afternoon at Burkman Gymnasium.

Olivia Middleton and Ava McCann led the Saints with 16 points each, while Katie Frederick grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds and added eight points. McCann shot 4-for-11 from the arc, grabbed three rebounds and one steal, while Erin Kumler assisted on four plays and Middleton recorded two steals.

After an even first half of play, the Saints held a slight 30-29 lead at halftime.

The Saints worked to build their lead through the third frame, going up by nine on a layup from Caroline Rodi with 5:21 to play and increased their lead to 12 points (50-38) on a last second 3-pointer from McCann to end the third quarter.

SUNY Potsdam went on a 12-2 run to early in the fourth quarter to tie the game 56-56. The Saints regained control on another shot from the arc by McCann to lead 61-56, but the Bears picked up the next five points to lead 63-61 with 46 seconds to play. The Bears added three free throws down the stretch for the win.

"It was a tough loss today," said head coach Dan Roiger. "We had that game won and found a way to give it away in the fourth quarter. We broke down in a lot of areas in the final eight minutes. We lost our composure way before we lost the lead. We played panicky, took quick shots, turned the ball over and disappeared on defense. Our injuries have finally caught up to us.  We had a bad week of practice due to injuries and it haunted us in the fourth quarter today. We were tired, and it led to us making very poor decisions. We made so many of them, that we lost the game. Hopefully we can heal over break and get back to having a full squad soon."



Jakia Howard shot 8-for-15 from the floor to lead the Bears with 17 points, and recorded 10 rebounds. Caroline LaFountain recorded 15 points, while Devyn Elliott added 14 and a team-best 16 rebounds.Dyamon Hunter recorded five assists for the Bears, while LaFountain tallied three steals. 

The Bears shot 58.8 percent in the fourth quarter to improve their shooting to 39.4 percent overall, while the Saints shot 31.0 percent from the floor.

Both teams moved to 2-3 on the season.

The Saints will head home for Thanksgiving break and will open Liberty League play on the road at Rensselaer and Union on December 6 and 7, respectively. Game times are set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.