Potsdam, N.Y. - A career-high 26 points from Fallon Griffin carried the Clarkson UNiversity Women's Basketball team to a 79-69 win over the Ithaca College Bombers, Friday evening at Alumni Gymnasium. The win marked the first victory for the Knights over Ithaca since the 1999-2000 season and the first Liberty League win over the Bombers since the school joined the conference in the 2017-18 season.
Clarkson improves to 7-8 overall, 3-5 in league play and will face off with the Tigers of RIT tomorrow, January 23rd at 2 p.m. Ithaca falls to 7-9 overall, 4-5 in conference action.
Following an opening layup from the Bombers, Maddy Polky would produce the next six points of the contest, giving Clarkson an early 6-2 lead. One basket apiece from each team up to the first media timeout made it 8-4 after the first five minutes. Polky, Elizabeth Aiossa and Kate Cambpell then combined for a quick 7-0 run up to the two minute mark while baskets from Zoraida Icabalceta and Lily Wohller for the visitors made it 16-9 after one quarter, in favor of the Knights.
The lead would grow to double-digits early on in the second when Fallon Griffin would power her way to the cup for an old-fashioned three-point play, putting Clarkson up 21-11, just over 90 seconds in. A quick 5-0 response from the Bombers would cut the deficit in half but sustained pressure from the Knights presented another 10 point lead at the 4:00 minute mark following an Addie Kea layup. The visitors would then fashion a 10-0 run to tie things up with just under two minutes remaining and edge the Knights 5-4 over the final stretch of the half to take a 33-32 lead into the break.
With momentum on their side, Ithaca opened the third quarter in similar fashion to the end of the second, maintaining their slim advantage while trading baskets with the Knights. The largest lead of the third came at the 4:06 mark when Icabalceta knocked down a three-pointer off a series of offensive rebounds to put the Bombers up eight, 50-42. The final four minutes would be all Clarkson, however, as a 12-1 run spurred on by Griffin, Polky and Bella Doyle put the Knights up 54-51 with ten minutes left in the contest.
Tori Drevna supplied the opening basket in the fourth for the Bombers to bring them back within one, but that would be the closest that the game would come over the final quarter. Clarkson got up by as much as seven as Griffin would knock down another three and then answer a Bomber jumper with a jumper of her own to make it 64-57 with 5:22 left on the clock. Down 10 with 1:41 remaining, Ithaca would be forced to foul and 5-6 free throw shooting from the Knights down the stretch provided the much needed breathing room and the 79-69 final.
Clarkson would hold an advantage in second chance points (16-11) and points in the paint (46-28) while shooting 48% (28-58) from the field overall. The Bombers received a high scoring boost from their bench with 23 points compared to 11 for the Knights but hold marks of 40%, 32% and 60%, from the field, three-point range and the free throw line.
Griffin would snag five boards to go along with her scoring outburst, which was the highest scoring output from a player in the program in 74 games since Cassidy Dumont in January of 2023. Polky added 15 points, tying her season-high. Doyle added 14 points and six rebounds to go along with 12 points, six boards and four assists from Kea. Aiossa was a constant rebounding force on both ends for Clarkson, grabbing nine boards to go along with her nine points. Drevna tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead Ithaca. Madison Gil, Avery McPeek and Icabalceta all registered double-digit scoring numbers for the Bombers.
