Box Score

POTSDAM, NY (February 6, 2015) - The Brewers forced overtime with a furious rally late, but couldn't pull the upset as the Vassar College women's basketball team fell to host Clarkson University 78-67 Friday night in action from Alumni Gymnasium.

VC was able to send the game to an extra period following a timeout by CU, as the Brewers forced a turnover thanks to a steal by Caitlin Drakeley (Woodbury, CT/Nonnewaug). The junior guard got the inbounds, came off a screen and nailed a three from the top of the arc to knot the game at 62. Another turnover by Clarkson gave the Brewers a shot with two seconds left, but instead the contest went to overtime.

Vassar couldn't find the scoring touch in overtime though, netting just five points as the Golden Knights (15-5, 8-3 Liberty League) pulled away for the conference win. CU shot 4-of-6 in the extra period, while VC made two of its nine field goals in the overtime.

The Brewers (8-12, 3-8 Liberty League) jumped out to a quick advantage over the first 2:25 of the contest, scoring six of the game's first seven points. Vassar led by five in the early going twice, the latest coming at 8-3 after a pair of freebies by Ariella Rosenthal (Mill Valley, CA/Redwood).

With the score 11-7 in favor of the Brewers, Clarkson rattled off seven straight points over a span of 1:36 to take a 14-11 lead. CU led by as much as five at 18-13 with 12:32 to play in the opening stanza, but Vassar scored the next six points to take a 19-18 edge.

The two teams traded the lead four more times over the next few minutes before five straight points from VC forced Clarkson to burn a timeout at 6:12 with the score 25-22. The spurt for Vassar would continue, taking its biggest lead of the game at 29-22 after a Drakeley jumper.

Vassar College held the lead through halftime, carrying a 37-32 edge into the intermission. Drakeley scored 11 points, a game-best in the first half, while Rosenthal added 10 and Kim Romanoff (Durham, CT/Coginchaug Regional) came off the bench to score six points.

After the break, Clarkson went on an 11-0 run early in the period over the span of 5:33 to take its biggest lead to that point at 45-39. VC responded with 12 of the game's next 15 points to take a three-point edge, capped by a three-pointer by Rosenthal from the top of the key.

The Golden Knights followed with a 12-4 run to take a five-point lead at 60-55 with 3:48 to play. Rosenthal hit a jumper with 1:19 to go to make it a three-point game at 60-57, but a pair of free throws by Devin Sorell pushed the CU advantage back to five. Rosenthal answered with two freebies of her own with 24 seconds left to make it another one-possession game, setting up Drakeley's heroics.

Rosenthal ended with a game-high 23 points, hitting 3-of-7 from downtown, tying her career-high with nine rebounds. Drakeley added 20 points as well for VC, while Romanoff finished with eight points, going 4-of-7 from the floor. Junior Rose Serafini (Milton, Ontario, Canada/Milton Area) contributed a team-high 13 rebounds, scoring six points and blocking two shots.

VC shot 34.7 percent from the field, while the four made three-pointers were the most for the Brewers since the five against Skidmore College on January 3. VC also made all 11 free throws on the night.

CU was paced by the 22 points and 17 rebounds from Ashley Loggins, while four other players reached double-figures. Both teams played with seven active players Friday night, and every dressed player scored at least one field goal.

The Brewers will attempt to snap their three-game losing skid tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. against St. Lawrence University in another Liberty League contest.