St. Lawrence University women's basketball defeated the Plattsburg State Cardinals 90-64 in the Burkman Gymnasium in Canton, NY in the team's 2014-15 home opener. Senior co-captain Kara McDuffee became the 13th player in University history to make it the prestigious 1,000 point club thanks to a game-high 21 points in the victory.

McDuffee was aided by fellow senior captain Allison Cady, who added 17 points, and rookie Shayna Davner's 11 off the bench to help the Saints improve to 3-1 on the season. Plattsburgh State, which was led by Devona Paul's 21 points and six rebounds, falls to 1-3 on the young campaign.

"It has been a great experience to coach Kara. She is such a competitor, is so committed and plays so hard that she is easy to coach and a great leader and role model for our younger players," said St. Lawrence head coach Dan Roiger. "You just love it when good things happen for players like her, and it was great to see her get her 1000th point in front of the home crowd in a big win!"

The differences in the game proved to be three-point shooting and rebounding, as St. Lawrence finished with a 12-2 edge in three pointers while shooting 40% and owned a 47-36 advantage in rebounds.

Though the Saints started off slowly with just five points in the first 5:00 minutes of the game, a 12-0 run that started at the 12:13 mark would give separation in the first half. Cady, Caroline Dalton and McDuffee all hit three pointers in the stretch as St. Lawrence would never lead by fewer than six the rest of the night. The home team had its largest lead of 16 with 3:31 to go in the half after a three by Lauren Quattrocchi, though the Cardinals pulled within 11, 45-34, with a last-second jumper by Paul before halftime.

A three pointer by Dalton to open the second half would ensure that St. Lawrence never allowed Plattsburgh State back to within 10 the rest of the way. An and-1 by Cady with 6:33 to play gave the Scarlet and Brown its largest lead of the night at 77-50 and allowed them to coast down the stretch to the sound 90-64 win.

"This was a real nice team win tonight. We had contributions from every player that stepped out on the floor. We wanted to work on some things defensively and I thought we were successful at improving in those categories, and we worked hard on our offense over the break and it paid off," added Coach Roiger. "When you shoot the ball that well, you look good. But I really thought we moved the ball up the floor well and made some very unselfish plays that led to good looks for teammates. It's a lot easier to shoot when you are wide open, and we were because of our passing tonight."

The 90-point effort is the most points scored by the women's basketball team since a 97-67 victory over RIT on November 21, 2010.

The Saints will be in action on Saturday, December 6 at 3pm when they take on the Ithaca College Bombers in Burkman Gymnasium.