PALMER EARNS LIBERTY LEAGUE AWARD

Feb. 6: First year Katie Palmer earned her first Liberty League award, as the conference has voted her Co-Rookie of the Week.

Palmer helped the Saints defeat a feisty RPI squad by scoring 7 points and grabbing 9 rebounds on Friday night. Then, the guard added 11 points against Vassar, helping the Saints remain on top of the Liberty League standings.

The Bourne, MA native is the first Saints player to be selected Rookie of the Week this season. She will need to keep contributing solid minutes off the bench if St. Lawrence is to win the league.

The Saints will make the short trip to Clarkson University on Tuesday evening for a match-up against the Golden Knights. Tip-off is set for 6:00pm.

SAINTS TOP VASSAR, 71-33, FOR PERFECT WEEKEND

Feb. 4: The St. Lawrence Women’s Basketball team beat Vassar Saturday afternoon, 71-33, to move to 8-1 in the Liberty League and 14-6 overall. With the loss, Vassar falls to 1-8 in conference, and 6-13 overall.

Just 10 seconds into the game, Jamie Wolff drove the lane for the Saints and put in a lay-up. Then, a steal by Nora Curley led to another lay-up by Andrea Muszynski, and the Saints were off and running. With over 7 minutes to play in the first half, SLU started to pull away, thanks to a couple three-pointers from Brittany Gaetano.

Gaetano would finish the first half with 8 points for the Saints. At the buzzer, SLU held the advantage in scoring percentage shooting 44% from the floor to Vassar’s 31%, and 50% from three point range to Vassar’s 40%. The score was 34-17 with SLU in the lead going into the locker room.

The second half was more of the same, as the Saints continued to pull away from Vassar. Katie Palmer scored 7 second half points to end with 11 on the day. Gaetano scored 14 for the game and shot a perfect 4 of 4 from behind the arc. Sophomore Kim Sikule grabbed 10 rebounds, 8 of them defensive, and added 3 steals in the win.

For Vassar, Rachel Cerlen scored 9 points and grabbed 8 boards. Erin Harper scored 5 points, and contributed 4 assists, and 3 steals.

The Saints square off against Clarkson on the road on Feb. 7 th at 6:00 pm to continue their Liberty League run. Vassar will compete against Hamilton on Feb. 10 th at 6:00 pm.

SAINTS SCORE 52 IN SECOND HALF TO DOWN RPI 84-72

Feb. 3: The St. Lawrence Women’s Basketball team topped visiting RPI Friday night to stay in first place in the Liberty League with an overall record of 13-6 and a conference mark of 7-1. With the loss, the Red Hawks fall to 10-7 overall and 4-4 in league.

Nora Curley and Andrea Muszynski began the scoring for the Saints with lay-ups in the first minute, but Destany Eagle put RPI in the driver’s seat at the 13 minute mark and the Red Hawks would not trail for the rest of the half, and would enter the locker room with a 38-32 advantage.

At the break, Eagles had already recorded 10 points and would finish the night with 16. RPI’s Kristi Baranowski had 11 at the half, and finished with a game high 21. The lid was on the basket for SLU in the first 20 minutes as they only shot 28.6% from the field and 20% from behind the arc. RPI was shooting 63.6% from the floor, and 50% from three-point land.

The Saints turned the tides in the second half, scoring 52 points and only allowing 34. In a very physical second half, the score remained close until around 10 minutes left to play when the momentum shifted in favor of the home team. The Saints began to run away with it thanks to an array of points from Kim Sikule, Katie Palmer, Jamie Wolff, Curley, and Muszynski.

With under a minute to go, Jamie Wolff sealed the deal for SLU when she hit a three-pointer from Jess Smith, then hustled down the court and took a charge 6 seconds later to regain possession for the Saints.

For the night, Wolff led Saint scorers with 19 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Muszynski chipped in 16, and Sikule helped with 13 points and 5-5 from the stripe. For RPI, Whitney Coleman ended with 15 points, and 4 assists.

SLU finished with 39.3% from the floor and 34.8% from behind the arc, while RPI shot 54.9 from the field, and just under 29% from behind the arc.

The Saints will meet Vassar Saturday afternoon at home at 2:00 pm, while RPI will travel to Clarkson for a 2:00 pm start.