With all newcomers on the floor today, Abby Doin led the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team with 14 points, but the Saints fell to Clarkson 71-62 in non-league play in game five of their series on Sunday afternoon in Potsdam, New York.

Second to Doin, Shannon Rhone recorded 13 points, three assists and three rebounds for the Scarlet and Brown, while Sierra Sanson scored 12 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. Kristen Varin wrapped up the double-digit scorers for the Saints with 11 points, while Cam Roberts tallied six blocks.

After an early Golden Knights lead to start the game, the Saints tied the game 8-8 on a 3-pointer from Sierra Sanson and continued to lead 14-12 after the first 10 minutes of play.

Clarkson opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run to build a 24-16 lead over the Saints. St. Lawrence managed to gain a little ground and regrouped to open trail by four at halftime (32-28).

The Golden Knights worked to increase their lead back to double-figures, leading by 11, with a layup from Lauren Bell with 2:06 to play in the third. The Saints hung tough in the second half, only trailing the Golden Knights by 19-15 in the third and 20-19 in the fourth quarter and just fell a little short trying to come the point deficit before the final buzzer.

"Wow, what a great effort today," said head coach Dan Roiger. "That's a win for this group of first-years despite losing the game. Without Olivia Middleton, we are playing with six first-years and a sophomore transfer, all new kids to our program. They went toe to toe with Clarkson's seniors and battled the whole game. I'm so proud of them!"

"It is so satisfying as a coach to be working on certain skills all week and then to see the players incorporate that into a game. We continue to learn and improve and this group is benefiting from this opportunity. They should feel very good about themselves."

Hannah Earl led the Golden Knights with 23 points, shooting 3-for-5 from the arc. Rachel Marion finished with 12 points, while Emma Buonanno and Bell each added 11. Molly Stewart finished with a team-best eight rebounds.

The Golden Knights shot a combined 44.6 percent from the floor to the Saints' 40.7 percent.

St. Lawrence finished with 18 points off turnovers and 14 second-chance points.

Clarkson improved to 6-3 on the season, while the Saints fell to 1-4.

The Saints will host the Golden Knights on Tuesday, March 16 at 5 p.m.