Sophomore Ava McCann broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season as the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team defeated RIT 83-56 in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Tuesday night in Burkman Gymnasium.

With seven 3-pointers tonight, McCann broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season with 78 thus far, a record previously held by Jamie Wolff '08 from the 2007-08 season.

McCann shot 7-for-10 from the arc and led the Saints with 21 points, while Olivia Barringer went 7-for-9 from the floor and finished with 15 points. Annabella Pugliese scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out a team-best 12 assists, while Katie Frederick finished with a team-high 12 rebounds.

RIT struck early, taking a 9-2 lead over the Saints on a 3-pointer from Brooke Stanley, but the Saints regrouped and finished the first quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 18-12.

The Tigers held the Saints within single digits for most of the second frame, but a 3-pointer from McCann increased the Saints lead to 10 with 1:56 to play and a layup from Barringer put the Saints up 35-24 at halftime.

St. Lawrence outshot the Tigers 25-18 in the third and 23-14 in the fourth for the win, shooting 83.3 percent from the arc and 52.78 percent in the second half.

"Fantastic game for the Saints tonight," said head coach Dan Roiger. "I'm really proud of their intensity and focus during the game. RIT has a lot of offensive weapons and we stayed in front for the most part and made them take contested shots. They changed their defense frequently and our players recognized and got into the right offense. We shot the ball great, but we shot it great because we moved the ball around, made extra passes, and then had open shots. It is ridiculous that we had 29 assists on 32 buckets, but it is a credit to great team basketball. Shout outs to Annabella Pugliese, who shot the ball with confidence in the second half and had an amazing 12 assists, and to almost all our guards for their 3-point shooting, and to Olivia B for finishing inside tonight. It was a fun game, and we are excited to be moving on and know how difficult the challenge to play Vassar will be."



Stanley led RIT with 22 points, while Sabrina Wolfe finished with 13 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

The Saints shot lights out, shooting 47.8 percent from the floor and 60.0 percent from the arc (15-for-25). The Saints defense held the Tigers to just 31.7 and 13.0 percent, respectively.

St. Lawrence recorded 18 second-chance points and 17 points off turnovers.

With the win, the Saints improved to 18-8 on the season and advance to face Vassar in the Liberty League semifinals on Saturday, February 29 at 3:30 p.m. in Ithaca, New York.