Potsdam, N.Y. - Facing a significant deficit at the half, a spirited comeback in the second half ran out of steam as the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team dropped a 71-58 decision to local rivals St. Lawrence University, Tuesday evening.
Clarkson moves to 7-10 overall while dropping to 3-7 in the Liberty League. The Knights welcome Bard and Vassar to Alumni Gymnasium, Friday and Saturday for another weekend league series. St. Lawrence improves to 10-6 and 5-4 in the conference.
The Saints would jump out to an early 5-0 lead before Bella Doyle got the Knights on the board with a layup in the paint but the visitors quickly answered with another 5-0 run capped off by a Hannah Van Dyke jumper. Maddy Polky got Clarkson back to within five following a wing three until another swift response from St. Lawrence saw them jump up 16-5 at the 3:52 mark. Polky managed to get Clarkson back to within six with 1:50 remaining in the first but a finish from Mason Baker-Schlendering made it 20-12 St. Lawrence after one.
A 7-0 run to start the second for the visitors gave a glimpse at a continued theme headed to the halftime buzzer. Fallon Griffin and Kea managed to stem the run with a 5-0 response as SLU would lead 27-17 with 4:42 remaining. A 15-3 run to end the quarter meant that Clarkson entered halftime facing a 41-20 deficit.
The Knights held the advantage out of the break as Fallon Griffin would cap off a swift scoring streak with a long-range three to bring Clarkson back to with 12, halfway through the quarter. Free throws and another mid-range jumper bumped the lead back to 47-31 at one point for the Saints before another Griffin three made it 49-37 with 2:13 left in the third and Clarkson holding the momentum. With under a minute on the clock, Stevie Bannon weaved her way to the cup to cap off the scoring for SLU, putting the visitors up 54-39, with just one quarter left to play.
Clarkson would continue to ask questions of St. Lawrence as the fourth opened up with Alexis Kress and Griffin both bringing the deficit back to twelve with just over six minutes left in the contest. However, a 9-2 burst would put the Saints up 19 with 3:27 left before the final buzzer. Twice, Griffin and Kress again brought the Knights back to within slimmer margins in the final two minutes but an 11-point lead with 1:20 remaining would prove to be too much to overcome for the Knights as SLU would hit two free throws in the waning seconds for the 71-58 final.
Clarkson would hold a slim upper-hand in points in the paint (20-18) and second chance points (8-4) while St. Lawrence would lead in points off turnovers (18-8) and bench points (28-11). Despite the 21-point gap at the half, Clarkson managed to outscore the Saints 38-30 in the second half but a 21-8 second quarter for the visitors would be too high of a margin to reverse.
Griffin continued her hot shooting tallying 18 points on 4-7 three-point shooting, leading a team percentage of 46% (10-22) from behind the arc. Polky tossed in 12 points to go along with two steals and two blocks while Doyle added nine points and eight boards. Norah Niesz tossed in 16 points for the Saints, anchored by a lethal mid-range game. Stevie Bannon (14 points) and Jackie Malley (13 points) both contributed to a balanced scoring effort in the win.
