POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 14, 2017) — Maeve Sussman poured in a career-high 15 points, helping the Vassar College women's basketball team (8-8, 5-2 Liberty) top St. Lawrence University (4-8, 2-3 Liberty) at the Athletics & Fitness Center on Saturday, 58-40.
"Maeve Sussman really did a great job," coach Candice Brown said. "We've really encouraged her to continue to get after it. She does some really good things when she's being aggressive, and so I was really happy with her play today."
Sussman notched her new personal best while shooting 6-of-7 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers. Ariella Rosenthal also had a productivfe day, regiserting her third double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Sophie Nick tallied 11 points, going 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, to round out Vassar's top scorers.
The Brewers shot 41 percent from the floor, 20 percent from three and 75 percent from the line, while holding their visitors to 29, 9 and 33 percent, respectively.
Shayna Davner scored 11 points to lead the Saints, while Meghan Hynes had seven points and three blocks.
"We beat them three out of four quarters, as far as points are concerned. What was more impressive was that we beat them on the boards, 50-34, and everyone on our team had a rebound. I was really excited about that. I think our kids did a really great job. We talked about focus, and having lots of energy, and I was happy to see that."
Playing in front of their Alumni Weekend home crowd, the Brewers stepped on the gas and never let up.
Four different Brewers accounted for the first four buckets, as Vassar jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Kaelyn Kohlasch put St. Lawrence on the board with a pair of baskets at the 2:19 mark.
The Brewers opened the second stanza with a 17-2 run, which was capped by back-to-back buckets from Rosenthal, 26-7, with 2:42 to go. Sophie Nick ended the half with a hoop-and-harm, giving Vassar a 29-11 lead to go into the break.
The sides exchanged baskets to start the second half, as Davner netted the first three field goals for St. Lawrence.
The Saints pulled as close as 11 with 3:13 to go in the third period, but the Brewers outscored them 19-12 the rest of the way to secure their fifth win in six games.
Sussman highlighted the second half, hitting the and-one following a steal-and-score to make it a 44-28 ballgame to open the fourth quarter.
"My offense really comes from my defense," said Sussman, who added a pair of steals to her stat line, "so when I got a couple steals, it just helped fuel it."
Down the stretch, Teta hit back-to-back buckets for the Brewers — a layup and a jumper, both from Kim Romanoff — to give the Brewers a 54-36 advantage with 2:13 remaining in regulation.
Vassar hits the road for a trifecta of games, playing at Rensselaer (Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m.), William Smith College (Friday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m.) and Rochester Institute of Technology (Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m.).
—VASSAR—
