Box Score

POTSDAM, NY (February 21, 2009) – For the second year in a row, the Vassar College women's basketball team beat Clarkson University in the final game of the year to earn its first Liberty League victory. Thanks to a combined 45 points from the freshman duo of Kristyn Tempora (Marlboro, NJ/St. John Vianney) and Brittany Parks (Escondido, CA/Escondido), Vassar notched an 82-77 double overtime win at Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday.

The Brewers snap a nine-game losing streak and finish the season at 4-21, 1-13 in the Liberty League. The Golden Knights conclude the year with a 6-19, 1-13 league record, leaving Vassar and Clarkson in a tie for seventh place in the final standings.

Vassar's 82 points represented its highest offensive output of the season. Tempora matched her career high with 23 points, nicely bookending the season after scoring that same amount in Vassar's season opener. Parks added 22 points and five assists to just one turnover. Junior Emily Haeuser (South Portland, ME/South Portland) added a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double and sophomore Jenica Law (Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn) netted a career high 12 points, including a basket at the end of regulation that sent the game into the first overtime. Sophomore Carolyn Crampton (Reading, MA/Reading) pulled down ten rebounds to go with four assists. Though Crampton scored just three points, they proved crucial in boosting Vassar to the win, tying the game for the tenth and final time before the Brewers pulled away for the victory.

Down by three in the second overtime, Crampton converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:22 remaining, and from that point the Brewers went on a 5-0 run – thanks to jumpers from Parks and Law and a Tempora free throw – to make it a two-possession game. A pair of free throws by Lauren Pluchino (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) with 21 seconds to go pulled the Knights back to within three, but Tempora sank two free throws with six seconds remaining to ice the win.

The first extra session started with the Knights getting the early jump on a basket by Pluchino in the first minute, but a three-point play from Tempora tied the score up at 68-68 midway through the overtime. From that point, the teams continued to exchange free throws or makes and still found themselves knotted at 72-72 with 22 seconds to play. After a timeout by the Knights, Clarkson turned the ball over and committed a foul, giving the Brewers a chance to take the lead from the line with six seconds to go. Though Vassar was unable to convert from the line, Clarkson again came up short on a last second three-pointer, sending the game to a second overtime.

After an even first half in which both teams scored 31 points, Clarkson pushed its lead to nine points on a couple of occasions, but the Knights could not put Vassar away. A three-pointer from Tempora with 55 seconds pulled the Brewers to within two points, 64-62. After a missed opportunity at the other end for the Knights, Law was able to make a runner in the lane with 6.1 seconds to go to tie the score. Clarkson's desperation three-pointer came after the buzzer, sending the two teams to overtime.

The Knights started off the game with a 6-0 run, but the Brewers responded with a run of their own to come back and tie the contest. From that point on, neither team was able to make any kind of sustained offensive push. Both teams traded baskets back and forth for the half and their numbers nearly mirrored one another at the break. The Brewers and Knights each had 23 rebounds, 6 fouls, and 31 points at the half.

There were ten ties and 15 lead changes throughout the game, with Clarkson holding the largest lead at nine points. Following a loss to St. Lawrence in which turnovers plagued the Brewers, Vassar turned the tables on Clarkson, forcing 28 turnovers on 15 steals, both the second-highest season totals in both categories. Vassar scored 29 points off Clarkson miscues. Parks, Tempora, and sophomore Eleanor Albert (Clinton, NY/Clinton) all nabbed three steals apiece.

Freshman Carey Turner finished with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals to lead the Knights, while sophomore Sierra Noles compiled her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 5 assists.