Box Score

CANTON, NY (February 21, 2014) -- Hosting St. Lawrence University clinched the Liberty League regular season title Friday, defeating the Vassar College women's basketball team 75-66 in play from Berkman Gymnasium.

The Brewers (19-5, 12-3 Liberty League) still control their own destiny in terms of locking up the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament. If VC knocks off Clarkson University Saturday, then it will host William Smith College Wednesday in the semi-finals. If host Clarkson earns a win over Vassar, then William Smith will play host to VC Wednesday. SLU will take on Rochester Institute of Technology in the other semifinal Wednesday.

The host Saints (17-7, 13-2 LL) never trailed in the game, holding a lead for all but 17 seconds of the contest. SLU upped its edge in the first half to 11 at 19-8 after a layup by Kara McDuffee, but Vassar forged back to within four at 24-20 with 9:27 left in the period.

St. Lawrence pushed its advantage back up to 11 just before half, but back-to-back layups by Nyah Berg (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury) and Cydni Matsuoka (Sacramento, CA/John F. Kennedy) made the halftime count 40-33 in favor of the Saints.

After the break, Vassar crept to within four again after another field goal from Berg with 13:45 to play. With the score 48-44, SLU went on an 11-0 run to take a game-high advantage of 15. VC trimmed the St. Lawrence lead down to five with 2:12 to go in the game after a pair of free throws by Caitlin Drakeley (Woodbury, CT/Nonnewaug), but SLU scored the next five points to put the game away.

Matsuoka finished with a game-best of 27 points, connecting on 11-of-21 from the floor. Drakeley notched her fourth straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Allyson Pemberton (Weston, MA/Weston) made four of her five shots from the floor for eight points.

Senior Hannah Senftleber (Burlington, VT/Burlington) posted nine rebounds and a team-high three steals for VC, who shot 38.2 percent (26-62) from the floor. Vassar also was out-boarded Friday for only the sixth time all season, losing the battle on the boards, 45-38. Vassar turned the ball over just four times all game, the lowest turnover number ever at Vassar.

The Saints got a team-best 24 points from Kelly Legg, and McDuffee added a huge double-double of 19 points and 17 rebounds. Allison Cady posted 19 points and six rebounds as well, while Cassie St. Hilaire finished with 10 points. SLU benefited from 41.3 percent shooting.

Vassar's final regular season game, a contest with big time playoff implications, will happen Saturday at 2 p.m. at Clarkson University.