The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team picked up its fourth straight win on Friday night, as senior Cassie St. Hilaire had a team-high 19 points and classmate Kelly Legg added a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) in a 69-54 victory over Union College in the Burkman Gymnasium.

St. Lawrence, which has won nine of its last 10 games, improves to 12-6 (8-1), while the Dutchwomen, who were led by Kate Thompson's game-high 22 points, fall to 11-6 (3-5).

"Our first half was the best basketball we have played all season. We were locked in on defense and made everything difficult for Union, and we really were able to run our offense fast and move the ball around," said St. Lawrence head coach Dan Roiger. "Cassie played an awesome game tonight! I thought she played great defense all night, and in the second half when we couldn't get anything going, she made big shot after big shot. She really saved us with her 15 second half points."

St. Lawrence was able to build a sizeable lead early in the first half as Union was cold from the floor, starting the game 0-for-11. Lauren Quattrocchi's lay-in 8:56 into the game put the Saints ahead 16-3, with all of Union's points coming from the free throw line. Union would pull to within nine, but baskets by St. Hilaire, Allison Cady and Kara McDuffee pushed the cushion up to 16, 23-7, with 5:45 remaining in the half.

Things wouldn't get much better for the Dutchwomen in the final minutes, as they were held to two points in the final 4:29 of the half, allowing St. Lawrence to pull away with a 14-2 run to close the period. Cady hit a three followed by three straight lay-ups by Legg, and with the defense suffocating Union, St. Lawrence went to the locker room up 38-15. Union was held to their season-low for points in a half after shooting only 24% from the floor (6-for-25), while McDuffee had 11 points to lead all players in the period.

The Saints' lead would swell to 28 on a three by St. Hilaire early in the period, but Union would respond with a big 22-4 run in a span of 6:00 minutes to cut the lead to 10, 49-39, with 10:01 remaining. The Dutchwomen turned to Thompson, who owned the interior and scored nine straight points for her team to help chip away at the lead. On the ensuing possession, however, St. Hilaire made a strong move to the basket and laid the ball in as the shot clock expired to push her team's lead back to 12 and settle things down.

Union would pull to within 10 on two more occasions, but each time it did, St. Lawrence answered and kept the lead in double-digits. Legg and St. Hilaire would continue to add key baskets down the stretch before both teams emptied their benches in the final minutes with the game in hand for the Scarlet and Brown, as they went on to the 69-54 victory.

The Saints used a 69-54 edge in rebounding to help earn the victory, with Legg earning the game-high 11 boards. McDuffee closed with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Cady and Quattrocchi chipped in nine and seven points, respectively. Thompson's 22 points was a season high for Union.

St. Lawrence will look to continue its winning ways tomorrow when it hosts Rensselaer at 2:00pm.