SAINTS UPSET NATIONALLY-RANKED HERONS, 71-55

Feb. 15: Three members of the St. Lawrence women’s basketball team scored more than 15 points to help the Saints hand Liberty League opponent William Smith College their first Liberty League loss of the season Friday night, as the home team upended the Herons 71-55 in Burkman Gymnasium.

With the win, the Saints improve to 18-4 overall and 8-3 in the league. Coming into the game, the Herons were ranked 10 th in the most recent USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 poll and were ranked 14 th by D3Hoops.com. William Smith, who are now 18-2 overall and 9-1 in the conference, suffered their first loss of the season since battling Rochester on December 4.

The Saints and Herons fought for the first minutes of the game, which saw two lead changes and three ties before a 19-6 St. Lawrence run to give the home team a comfortable 30-17 advantage with 6:28 to go in the half. William Smith was able to use shots from the free throw line to close the Scarlet and Brown’s double-digit lead down the stretch to end the period with a score of 34-26 in favor of the Saints.

The Herons began the second with five unanswered points to bring the score back within a one-possession game, but a solid defensive performance from the Saints helped the home team earn and maintain a double-digit lead once again with 14:21 remaining.

St. Lawrence saw their lead grow as big as 18 on two occasions throughout the final 3:26 of the contest before taking a 71-55 victory over the Herons in front of a packed Saints house.

St. Lawrence forced a season-high 22 turnovers for William Smith, while scoring 29 of their points off of those turnovers.

Leading the Saints defense was senior co-captain Kim Sikule (Westerlo, NY/Berne-Knox Westerlo), who grabbed her first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 boards, shooting 6-for-8 from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range and 3-for-4 from the line.

Offensively, senior co-captain Jamie Wolff (Buffalo, NY/Nardin Academy) led St. Lawrence with 22 points, while junior Katie Palmer (Bourne, MA/Falmouth Academy) tallied 16 points for the Saints.

St. Lawrence will host Hamilton College tomorrow in Burkman Gymnasium, with tip-off scheduled for 2:00pm.