Box Score

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (February 13, 2010) – Although never far behind, the Vassar College women's basketball team trailed for most of Saturday's contest against Skidmore College and was unable to put together a game-changing comeback, falling 58-52, as the Thoroughbreds secured the Liberty League regular season title.

The Brewers fall to 8-13, 4-7 in the league, fifth in the league standings and three wins out of a playoff spot. Vassar will play its final three games – all against league opponents – at home, beginning with Rensselaer on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The Thoroughbreds improve to 19-3, 11-3 and will host the Liberty League playoffs.

With Skidmore holding a nine-point lead heading into the second half, both teams struggled to score early on. The Thoroughbreds scored the first points of the half off an Amber Kinsey layup to take their first double digit lead and a three-pointer from Sharlyn Harper extended the lead to 34-20 with 15:32 remaining, what would be Skidmore's largest lead of the game. The Brewers countered with eight unanswered points – six from senior forward Emily Haeuser – to draw within six points.

The Brewers could not cut the deficit to less than six points until late in the contest, as an 8-0 run capped by a Haeuser layup cut the Skidmore lead to 54-40 with 58 seconds to play. However, Dana Leonard responded with a jumper on the other end and although two free throws from sophomore guard Brittany Parks again drew the Brewers within four, with just 17 seconds remaining the Vassar comeback ran out of clock. Forced to foul, the Brewers sent Christina Gargiso to the line where she hit two for the final 58-52 tally.

The Brewers took an early 8-2 lead just over three minutes into the game off three-pointers from Parks and sophomore forward Kristyn Tempora and a jumper from Haeuser. However, the Thoroughbreds scored eight unanswered points and would never trail again. After a Haeuser layup tied the game at ten, Skidmore netted seven straight to take its largest lead to that point, 17-10 with 12:33 left in the half. Taking advantage of a Skidmore scoring drought of nearly four minutes, the Brewers drew within one, 17-16 off two free throws from Parks, but Vassar could get no closer than that as the Thoroughbreds responded with an 8-0 run to take their largest lead to that point, 25-16, with 5:59 to play in the half. Skidmore carried that nine-point cushion into halftime, leading 29-20.

Haeuser led Vassar with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds, her second consecutive game with more than 20 points. With Saturday's scoring output, Haeuser surpassed Lisa Ercolano '91 to become Vassar's fourth highest all-time scorer with 1,223 points. Parks chipped in with 19 points, 14 coming in the second half, and two steals. Tempora added seven points and five rebounds.

Harper paced a balance Skidmore scoring attack with 15 points, followed by 13 from Leonard, 11 from Megan Gaugler, and nine from Gargiso. The Thoroughbreds drained four three-pointers in each half for an 8-for-23 showing from behind the arc, while the Brewers were just 2-for-15 from three-point range.