Ithaca, N.Y. - An Addie Kea double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds, combined with a 20-point outing from Fallon Griffin to lead the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team to a 68-59 victory and season-sweep over Ithaca College, Saturday afternoon.
The Knights improve to 9-12 overall, 5-9 in the Liberty League following the important win and will travel to take on Skidmore and William Smith next Friday and Saturday, with both games on the road. Ithaca falls to 7-14 overall while dropping to 4-10 in the league.
An early 7-3 Bomber lead would be quickly erased by Fallon Griffin and Kea with a three and driving layup that put the Knights up 8-7 less than five minutes into the contest. Grace McNamara would put the hosts back into the lead on the next possession but two more lay-ins, this time from Elizabeth Aiossa and Kea, saw Clarkson enter the first media timeout up 12-9. Following two McNamara free throws out of the break, Kea, Griffin and Alexis Kress would combine for a 10-0 Clarkson run over the final three minutes to put the Golden Knights up 22-11 after one.
Maddy Polky would open the second with a layup off a feed from Aiossa to stretch the lead to 13 before Aiossa would cash in on one of her own to answer a pair of free throws from Ithaca on the next trip down. Two layups back-to-back from the Bombers made it a single-digit game again but a trey from Griffin saw Clarkson go up 29-17 with under five minutes to go in the half. The lead would grow to as much as 16 following two free throws from Kress that capped off a 7-2 Golden Knight run over a crucial two minute stretch but a Natalie Tucker layup with under 10 seconds remaining meant that Clarkson would lead 36-22 headed into the half.
The Golden Knights would finish the half shooting 54% (14-26) from the field and 60% (6-10) from three despite turning the ball over 10 times due to a stingy Bombers full-court press. Ithaca struggled shooting, going just 27% (8-30) from the field and 11% (1-9) from three but would hold an advantage on the offensive boards with 11 second-chance points.
Ithaca would open the second on a 9-3 scoring streak with Polky accounting for the lone Clarkson three over the three minute stretch as the lead would close to just eight. After Polky would push the lead back to double-digits with a finish in the paint Ithaca would continue to find their shooting touch rattling off another scoring run, this time a 9-2 streak, shrinking the deficit to 43-40 with 3:49 left in the third. Kress and Riley Cullen would provide an answer for Clarkson with a three and layup to make it 48-40 with just two minutes remaining before McNamara would break a three-minute drought for the Bombers with an old-fashioned three point play in the final 30 seconds to cut the score to 48-43 headed into the fourth.
Both teams would combine for eight points in the first minute of the fourth with Griffin accounting for five of them as Clarkson retained an early 53-46 advantage. Kea would follow that with five straight of her own with a layup and trey as the Golden Knight lead would again grow to 12 with just under seven minutes remaining in the contest. Griffin connected on another three less than a minute later to answer another McNamara bucket but both teams would score just four points combined over the next five minutes allowing Clarkson to take a 62-51 lead into the final minute of play. Following two more free throws from Griffin, Ithaca would continue to turn up the pressure on defense outscoring Clarkson 8-4 over the final minute, but it would prove to be too little, too late, as a 4-6 mark from the free throw line over the final 60 seconds from the Knights ensured the 68-59 victory.
Clarkson would finish shooting 49% (23-47) from the field and a scorching 61% (11-18) from three-point land. The Knights would also hold a 13-7 edge in fastbreak points and never trail after the first quarter despite 22 turnovers as a team. Ithaca would finish the afternoon shooting 32% (21-66) from the field and just 24% (5-21) from three while registering 21 second chance points.
Griffin would finish with nine rebounds and three steals while Kea dished out five assists to go along with her double-double in the win. Polky would tally 13 points on 4-6 shooting and Kress added eight points in 21 minutes off the bench. McNamara led the Bombers with 19 points and seven boards with Madison Gill and Natalie Tucker accounting for 15 and 10 points, respectively.
