Potsdam, N.Y. - Trailing after the third quarter, the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team outscored Bard College 24-11 over the fourth, enroute to a 53-42 Liberty League win at Alumni Gymnasium, Friday evening. 

Clarkson improves to 8-10 overall, 4-7 in conference play and will face Vassar tomorrow, January 31st, at 2 p.m. Bard falls to 3-15 overall, 1-10 in the league. 

Fallon Griffin opened the game scoring just under two minutes in off a feed from Maddy Polky but a jumper and three from Bard made it 5-2 in favor of the Raptors. Griffin would hit a three for the Knights to knot things up at 5-5 but an 8-2 end to the first from Bard, capped off by threes from Lexi Miller and Jessica Martin meant the visitors led 13-7 after the opening quarter. 

The script was flipped early on in the second as Clarkson would open up the quarter with an 11-2 run highlighted by a Griffin three and two finishes in the paint from Bella Doyle. Bard managed just five points before the half as Martin connected on another trifecta but a layup from Alexis Kress made it 20-18 Golden Knights after one half. 

Bard would again hold Clarkson to a single-digit scoring output in the third quarter but both teams would struggle to consistently find the bottom of the hoop. Doyle quickly provided a four-point lead right out of halftime but a jumper from Shirley Dong and free throw from Miller flipped the score back to 23-22 in favor of the visitors. Both teams traded baskets through the remainder of the quarter as the score would be tied at 25 and then 28 before a three from Aislynn Dixon put the Raptors up 31-29 headed into the fourth. 

Griffin provided another early spark for the Knights in the fourth with a wing three to make it 32-21 and cancel out a Miller jumper with a second consecutive three to put Clarkson up two within the first minute. Polky would then tie the game at 36 with 8:28 remaining, sparking an 11-0 Golden Knight run up to the 2:39 mark as a double-digit advantage was created on the scoreboard. The Raptors managed to get back within eight on two separate trips through the final two minutes but 5-6 free throw shooting down the stretch from Griffin and Addie Kea provided the 53-42 win for the Knights. 

Both teams would struggle shooting-wise from the field as Clarkson would finish with a 33% (18-54) mark, compared to 30% (16-54) for Bard, while the back-and-forth contest provided ten lead changes. The Knights held an edge in most statistical categories including, second-chance points (11-1), fast break points (9-0) and points in the paint (22-14). 

Griffin continued her torrid stretch over the past week, notching 22 points while grabbing five rebounds. Doyle added nine points and five boards while also surpassing the 100 block milestone with her second rejection of the game, late on in the third. Kress contributed eight points off the bench in the win. Martin and Miller tallied 16 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Raptors.