The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team played nationally-ranked No. 3 Amherst tough on Monday afternoon. However, the Lord Jeffs had too many weapons as three different players scored 14 or more points to keep the visitors perfect at 14-0 this season. Lauren Quattrocchi led the Saints (8-4) with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

The Saints shot 38% from the floor in the game, but were solid from the free throw line (15-of-17). The home team hung around with solid defense in the second half, but were unable to get key scorers Kara McDuffee (1-for-6) or Caroline Dalton (2-for-7) rolling offensively. Meredith Doswell and Ali Doswell each had 15 points for the Lord Jeffs, who shots 54% from the floor in the game but were outstanding in the first half, shooting nearly 72%. Megan Robertson added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the post.

"I was really proud of the effort and mental intensity that we displayed today. Amherst is a great team, but we had a game plan and our team executed within that throughout most of the game," said St. Lawrence head coach Dan Roiger. "We forced them to attack the basket and they have great players who were capable of coming up big."

St. Lawrence started hot and took an 11-8 lead in the opening 5:00 minutes on a lay-in by Allison Cady. Amherst would flex its muscle with a 7-0 run to take the lead, as they utilized Robertson's post presence to go up four. With the game tied at 17-17, the Lord Jeffs started to slowly pull away with key baskets down the stretch before halftime, including the only three of the period for the visitors by Hannah Peterson in the final minute for the largest lead of 12 at the break.

Quattrocchi helped whittle the lead back to nine at 43-34 early in the second half, but a 16-4 run by the Lord Jeffs pushed the lead to 59-38 with 10:51 remaining. However, Coach Roiger's team didn't quit, as the Saints once again pushed back and clawed to within 12 after free throws by McDuffee and Cady with 6:39 left.

Amherst showed why they're one of the premier teams in the country, though, as Hannah Hackley and Ali Doswell helped kick-start a 6-0 run that put the game out of reach up 18 with 5:23 to go. St. Lawrence would come up with several stops down the stretch to bring the final score to 68-55, one of the closest games the Lord Jeffs have faced all year.

"We hung in with them for 35:00 minutes and simply couldn't overcome one bad spell at the end of the first half," added Coach Roiger. "If we continue to play at that level, we will be in pretty good shape throughout the rest of the year."

Monday afternoon's game marked the return of former St. Lawrence women's basketball coach GP Gromacki to Canton. Gromacki coached the Saints to the 2002 national championship game, and is now the head coach at Amherst College where he won the 2011 national title.

St. Lawrence will be back in Liberty League action this weekend when it hosts Union and Rensselaer on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17, respectively. The Saints take on the Dutchwomen on Friday at 6:00pm.