The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team controlled the game for three quarters, but fell to the Vassar Brewers 58-54 on Saturday afternoon in Canton, N.Y.

Shannon Rhone hit three triples to lead the Saints with 13 points, and Olivia Barringer had seven rebounds.

The Saints scored the opening eight points, and Vassar's responded with seven straight to keep the opening quarter close. Rhone, Jackie Malley, and Hannah Van Dyke hit shots from deep and after 10 minutes the Saints were up 13-9.

Vassar took their first lead of the game three and a half minutes into the second quarter. They scored five straight to lead 16-15, but Olivia Middleton responded with a three to put the Saints back ahead. The Saints led at halftime 27-20.

Rhone and Malley buried more from deep in the third quarter, and the Saints outscored the Brewers 16-7 to go into the final ten minutes leading 43-27. Vassar outscored St. Lawrence 24-2 in the opening six and a half minutes and led by six, until Rhone connected on her third and final triple of the day. Vassar tipped in a missed layup on the next possession to keep the lead at five. They went five for eight from the line in the final two minutes, and the Brewers held on to win 58-54.



"I've found giving up 24-2 runs to start the fourth quarter to be problematic," said head coach Dan Roiger. "But this game was lost possession by possession and early. Five missed layups in the first half cost us points, and not being able to make fundamental plays came back to haunt us as well in the second half. We have struggled all season with details, and details stack. When you make several mistakes on offense it eventually results in a missed basket or turnover, and on defense it results in buckets for your opponent. We still make too many mistakes to play a consistent 40 minute basketball game, and today Vassar was the better team over those 40 minutes. We were for 30, but they were for 40."

In addition to Rhone's 13, Malley and Van Dyke each scored two from deep, and Malley grabbed six boards and dished out four assists. The Saints were held to 25-percent from the floor in the final ten minutes.

Sierra McDermed led Vassar with 14 points off the bench. Julia Harvey and Alex Lee also finished with double figures. Vassar went nine for 13 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, and shooting just one for five in the first three.

Vassar finished with 56 rebounds as a team, compared to St. Lawrence's 39.

St. Lawrence fell to 6-3, and 2-2 in league play, while Vassar improved to 6-6 and 3-2. The Saints start their road trip with a 5:30 game at Ithaca on January 13^th.