Box Score Box Score

CANTON, NY (February 4, 2011) – Down by eight points with 1:54 to play, the Vassar College women's basketball team made a valiant comeback effort to draw within two points with 21 seconds to play, but host St. Lawrence held on by converting four free throws down the stretch to register a 93-87 victory over the Brewers Friday night in Liberty League play at Burkman Gymnasium.

Trailing 85-77 with under two minutes to play, sophomore guard Ali Higgins connected on two 3-pointers to bring Vassar within 87-85 with 31 seconds to play. A clutch layup by freshman guard Cydni Matsuoka with 21 seconds to play kept the Brewers a heartbeat away at 89-87. Vassar was forced to foul and send the Saints to the free throw line, but that exchange didn't pan out as St. Lawrence's Casey Capello and Katherine Edgerton each made two free throws in the final 20 seconds to preserve the victory.

Vassar's loss leaves the Brewers at 11-8, 5-3. St. Lawrence's victory improves the Saints to 14-4, 5-3 and created a three-way tie for second place in Liberty League standings with William Smith. Union sits in first place at 6-3. Vassar plays at Clarkson (4-14, 1-7) on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. St. Lawrence hosts Rensselear (9-10, 4-3) in a critical game on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

For Vassar, the defeat came on the heels of a career-high 28 points by freshman forward Hannah Senftleber, whose 19 points in the second half kept the Brewers in contention.

The Brewers trailed 10-4 within the first three minutes of the game and never held a lead. Vassar closed within 47-46 with 17 minutes to play in the game, but played from behind throughout. St. Lawrence pushed its second half lead to an 11-point bulge, 75-64, with 7:04 to play, but it took the Brewers six minutes to whittle that deficit down.

Keyed by Erica Spera and Kelly Legg, who scored 29 of St. Lawrence's 43 first half points and finished with 25 and 24 points respectively, the Saints were able to neutralize Vassar's junior guard Brittany Parks, the Liberty League's leading scorer. Parks finished with 13 points, seven below her average, but she tallied only four points in the second half while saddled with foul trouble. St. Lawrence countered by placing four players in double figures – Legg, Spera, Capello (16 points) and Edgerton (15 points).

Higgins, who shot 3-for-3 from long range, made a big 3-pointer with 16 seconds left until halftime to reduce the St. Lawrence lead to 43-37. Throughout the first half, St. Lawrence maintained a six-to-eight point lead. Higgins almost proved the hero, however, as eight of her career-high 13 points came in the final 1:35 of the game, enabling the Brewers to make a dramatic late push.

With 16:52 to play in the game, Senftleber converted a traditional 3-point play to bring Vassar within 47-46, but that one point gap was the closest Vassar would come. Legg and Spera kept the pressure on, and after Spera made a layup with 9:46 to play, St. Lawrence had built a 67-57 lead. Legg's two free throws with 7:04 made the score 75-64.

Higgins got the Brewers within five at 85-80 with 1:35 remaining. Legg answered with another layup for an 87-80 Saints advantage. Higgins scored the next five points to bring Vassar within 87-85, but Capella's layup with 25 seconds remaining was a key bucket. Although Matsuoka was able to answer with her own layup, St. Lawrence calmly converted on its all-important final four free throws.

Sentftleber led Vassar with 25 points and five rebounds with Matsuoka added 17 points. Parks tallied 13 points, seven of them coming off free throws and Higgins had 13 points.

Spera had 25 points on a nifty 9-for-11 shooting night. She led all rebounders with nine, along with three assists and three blocks.