The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team's bench outscored Vassar's 28-8 on Friday, helping the Saints to a key 59-57 victory in Poughkeepsie, NY. Rookies Shayna Davner, Cara Waterson and Jenny Scudder combined for 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while Allison Cady had a team-high 12 points.

St. Lawrence has now won six of its last seven games to improve to 11-4 (6-1), while Vassar falls to 7-8 (2-4) despite 16 turnovers by the visitors. Caitlin Drakeley had 16 points for Vassar, while Ariella Rosenthal added 12 points and nine boards. However, St. Lawrence used a 31-23 rebounding advantage to pick up the conference win and stay in second place in the standings.

Vassar built an early lead, as Rosenthal's lay-up at 5:52 of the first half put the Brewers up 18-7. The Saints would claw back into it with several jumpers from Caroline Dalton, Scudder and Cady, which pulled the visitors within one at 25-24 with 6:08 left in the period. Neither team was able to break a 27-27 tie in the final 3:19 of the half, as the rivals went to intermission deadlocked.

St. Lawrence opened the second half on a 14-5 run to take its largest lead of the game at 41-33 after an and-1 by Davner and two free throws from Cady. Vassar came back with sound free throw shooting, as Rosenthal made four straight from the stripe to close the gap, and a jumper by Drakeley with 8:47 left tied the game at 41-41.

Vassar went up by four on free throws by Kim Romanoff with 2:12 to play, 53-49. However, Davner answered with a jumper and Lauren Quattrocchi tied it at 53-53 with a lay-up following a steal. With St. Lawrence up by one in the final minute, Rosenthal missed a jumper and Davner hauled in the rebound. She then came up with the biggest shot of the game, a three pointer with 22 seconds remaining, to put the Saints on top 57-53.

Davner's big shot proved to hold up, as the teams exchanged free throws down the final seconds as the Brewers never had a possession to tie the game before the final of 59-57.

The St. Lawrence-Vassar rivalry has grown in recent seasons, as the Brewers ended the Saints season in three of the past four years, including in last year's Liberty League title game.

St. Lawrence will look to win its fourth straight game tomorrow, Saturday, January 24 when it heads to Annandale-on-Hudson, NY to face Bard College at 2:00pm.