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Women's basketball: Clarkson's Shea pours in 23 in win over RIT, 80-77

Posted 1/21/17

POTSDAM  – With seven free throw makes in the final minute, the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team was able to hold off a late charge from RIT, claiming an 80-77 victory over the …

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Women's basketball: Clarkson's Shea pours in 23 in win over RIT, 80-77

Posted

POTSDAM  – With seven free throw makes in the final minute, the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team was able to hold off a late charge from RIT, claiming an 80-77 victory over the Tigers Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights edged back over .500 to 9-8 overall and are now 4-4 in the Liberty League. RIT dropped to 10-7 overall and 3-5 in conference games.

The Golden Knights started off slow in the opening minutes, but a Madison Shea 3-pointer at the 7:10 mark sparked a 9-0 run that would allow Clarkson to lead for almost the entirety of the half. A jumper from Alyssia Marsal at the 3:43 mark gave the Knights a nine-point edge (16-7), but Clarkson would go scoreless for the rest of the quarter while RIT chipped away at the deficit. Four straight free throws from the Tigers' Tyler Burns in the final 67 seconds, including two with two-tenths of a second remaining, knotted things up at 16-16 at the end of the first.

Clarkson rattled off seven straight points to start the second quarter, taking just 90 seconds to do so. Although the Tigers halted the run, a Devin Sorell 3-pointer at the six-minute mark put Clarkson up eight (28-20). Just a few minutes later, Sorell converted a baseline jumper off a fastbreak to give the Knights their biggest lead of the half (11 points, 33-22), forcing the Tigers to take a timeout. The break helped the Tigers out as they were able to score eight of the final 12 points of the half, including a three-point play from Abby Judd with 40 seconds left to cut the margin to 37-30 at intermission.

Clarkson received almost all of its points from juniors Devin Sorell and Madison Shea, as the duo combined for 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting with three 3-pointers. Taylor Burns tossed in nine for RIT and Tara Lynch came off the bench to produce nine points and five rebounds for the Tigers.

The Knights took little time pushing their advantage back to double figures as the team shot 6-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line in the first three minutes of the third quarter to take a 51-34 lead. Though Clarkson would lead in the low-teens for much of the third quarter, RIT trimmed the margin to 11 points at the end of the third when Julia Bender made a pair of free throws.

In the fourth quarter, Clarkson still enjoyed a double-digit advantage with five minutes to go, but Cori Okada made sure that RIT would stick around. The sophomore guard sunk a pair of 3-pointers to get the Tigers within two (69-67, 3:14), and the game would be tied 36 seconds later on a jumper by Abby Judd. Clarkson would not allow a complete turnaround, however, as Madison Shea made one free throw and Molly Stewart hit a clutch 3-pointer from the corner to help the Knights regain a four-point lead. From that point, the Knights staved off the Tigers by making free throws down the stretch for a three-point win.

Junior Madison Shea tied her career-high with 23 points, shooting 9-for-16 from the field, and added in five rebounds and four assists. Devin Sorell also tossed in 19 points in a full 40 minutes and Stephanie Grobe went 6-for-8 from the field for 14 points. Cori Okada had a huge second half for the Tigers, scoring 23 of her game-high 25 points in the final 20 minutes while also adding six assists in the game. Tara Lynch contributed 14 points and seven rebounds while Julia Bender produced 11 points and eight boards.