The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team held Potsdam to just 13 first-half points and defeated their route 11 rivals 64-36 on Tuesday night in Burkman Gymnasium.

Olivia Barringer had a 12 point, 11 rebound double-double, to lead St. Lawrence, as a dozen Saints showed up in the scoring column.

Jakia Howard hit the first bucket of the game to give Potsdam a two-point lead, but Jackie Malley and Hannah Van Dyke hit back-to-back threes, both assisted by Shannon Rhone, to spark a 12-point run and St. Lawrence gained control of the quarter.
Kristen Varin hit a three to give the Saints a 19-6 lead after 10 minutes played. Barringer hit a pair of free-throws to push the lead to 24 with two minutes to go in the half, and the Saints led 34-13 at the break.

Like in the first half, Howard opened the second half with a layup which cut the lead to 19, but Barringer scored three-points the old fashioned way and the game was never closer than 20 for the rest of the way. The Saints biggest lead came with a minute to go, when Margaret Dougher and Mason Baker-Schlendering executed a perfect pick-and-roll to make the score 64-34, and a Potsdam closed the game with a buzzer beater to make the score 64-36.


"A really focused effort by our group tonight on the defensive end," said head coach Dan Roiger. "We covered up the basket well and did a great job on the boards for a second straight night, especially the second half where we only gave up one offensive rebound on 21 chances. The young team is starting to figure it out and we are playing better basketball and I love our 40 assists to 22 turnovers over the last two nights. We still have plenty to learn and improve on but we are progressing in an upward trajectory and did a good job in shaking off the rust after our Christmas break. Now we get down to business with mostly Liberty League games from here on."

In addition to Barringer's double-double, Malley finished with 11 and six rebounds. First-year Caelan McHarney grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds, and Rhone had a career-high seven assists.

Howard led the Bears with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Neither team shot well from deep, Potsdam hit one of 23 from beyond the arc, and St. Lawrence went seven for 31. The Saints came down with 55 rebounds to Potsdam's 43.

St. Lawrence improved to 6-2, while Potsdam fell to 3-6 on the season.

The Saints return to league play this weekend. They host Bard on January 6^th at 5:30 p.m. and Vassar the following day at 2 p.m.