ITHACA, N.Y.—The William Smith College basketball team came up short of a season sweep of Liberty League leading Ithaca College, falling 64-58 in Light Gymnasium tonight. Sophomore
Juliana Gamboa led three Herons in double figures with 14 points.
Gamboa did most of her scoring at the free throw line, making 7-of-10. She also grabbed three rebounds and handed out two assists. Senior
Mia Morrison added a double-double on 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore
Stavriana Dimitrakopoulou added 11 points and six boards. Senior
Olivia Hughes contributed four points, six rebounds and four blocked shots and first-year
Olivia Parisi added eight points off the bench.
Senior Cassidy O'Malley was the only Bomber in double digits, finishing with a game-high 22 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.
Ithaca led 29-26 at halftime. O'Malley had a game-high 11 points at the break, while Morrison and Dimitrakopoulou each had seven to pace the Herons.
Hughes and Dimitrakopoulou converted back-to-back layups to open the second half scoring, giving the Herons a 30-29 lead. After trading the lead back-and-forth, Gamboa sank a pair of free throws to tie the game with less than four minutes left in the third quarter. However, the Bombers went back into the lead for good, finishing the frame on an 8-2 run.
Twice in the fourth quarter William Smith was able to cut the Ithaca lead to four, but each time the Bombers answered to keep the Herons at bay. Near the six minute mark, Gamboa connected on a 3-pointer to make it a 50-46 game, but Kellyanne O'Reilly hit a 3 at the other end of the floor to push the Ithaca lead out to seven. Junior
Annaliese Schreder made a 3-pointer with under 10 seconds left, trimming the IC lead to 62-58, but O'Rielly made two free throws at the other end of the floor to close out the night's scoring.
The Herons enjoyed a 49-39 rebounding advantage, but the Bombers committed eight fewer turnovers (20-12).
William Smith (10-6, 6-4) will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, when the Herons visit RIT (10-6, 5-4). The Tigers defeated Rensselaer 70-37 tonight.
