The Ithaca Bombers got off to a hot start, outscoring the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team 27-2 in the first quarter, en route to an 85-55 win over the Saints on Saturday afternoon in Ithaca, New York.

Olivia Middleton led the Saints with 16 points and grabbed three rebounds, while Katie Frederick finished as the team's only other double-digit scorer adding 10 points and seven rebounds. First-year Olivia Barringer grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while Dylan Watkiss finished with five assists and Annabella Pugliese finished with nine points.

Ithaca quickly applied pressure outscoring the Saints 27-2 within the first 10 minutes of play. The Saints matched up evenly in the second quarter, but do to an early deficit, trailed by 27 points (43-16) at halftime.

The Bombers continued to extend their lead over the Saints and increased their advantage to 36 points heading into the final quarter.

The Saints managed to outscore the Bombers 22-16 in the final frame, but were unable to mount a comeback.

"We started the game extremely nervous and frazzled, and the game was over early," said head coach Dan Roiger. "Our young players need to experience these games in order to grow for the future. We need to relax and play in these types of games, but you only get that from experience. Today, we gained the experience and now it's our choice to learn from it or to repeat it."

Cassidy O'Malley led the Bombers with 18 points, shooting 8-for-18 from the field, while Grace Cannon finished with 17 points. Kelly Anne O'Reilly added 16 points and Juliana Gamboa finished as Ithaca's fourth double-digit scorer adding 10 points. Cara Volpe grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

Ithaca shot 45.9 percent from the floor and held the Saints to just 32.4 percent.

The Saints fell to 16-7 overall and 12-4 in conference play, while the Bombers improved to 18-5 and 14-2. Ithaca currently holds down first in the Liberty League standings and the Saints fell to third, just behind Vassar in second.

St. Lawrence will wrap up the regular season at home hosting Union and Rensselaer on February 21 and 22, respectively.