Potsdam, NY – Sticking with the top team in the Liberty League until the final minutes, the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team put up a solid effort against Vassar College, but the Brewers came away with a 67-48 victory over the Golden Knights Friday evening at Alumni Gymnasium.

Clarkson fell to 3-15 overall and 1-10 in the Liberty League, while Vassar remained undefeated in conference at 11-0 and moved to 17-1 overall. Clarkson faces Bard College on Saturday afternoon.

Clarkson did a good job of taking care of the basketball against Vassar in the first half, committing only three turnovers to make sure that the offensive possessions resulted in a shot instead of empty trips down the floor. The Golden Knights raced out to an 11-4 run, capped by a Cassidy Dumont make in the lane. Vassar responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game over the next three minutes, finished off by a Sierra McDermed 3-pointer. In the second quarter, Vassar scored six straight points to take the lead and maintained a three-point edge when Toba Gelb found McDermed inside. Clarkson battled back to take the lead a few moments later, and for the remainder of the quarter the two teams stayed close to one another, with Vassar exiting the half with just a one-point advantage.

Both teams shot just below 40% for the first half and had their advantages on one side of the ball. The Brewers held a significant lead in rebounding (29-13), but Clarkson forced Vassar into eight turnovers while coughing up the ball just three times. Raelin Burns had 11 at the break and Bella Doyle snagged seven rebounds. Both Toba Gelb (nine points) and Naiya Kurnik (eight points) were close to double digits in the first 20 minutes.

The third quarter saw Vassar come out strong both offensively and defensively, opening up the period with a 14-2 run that was capped by a layup-and-one from Tova Gelb at 5:02. The Knights responded with a 3-pointer from Burns and pulled to within single digits down the stretch, including a baseline floater from Cassidy Dumont in the waning seconds to put the tally at 47-40.

With a little over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, it was still a single-digit game, but Vassar pulled away late. With just over three minutes to go the gap stood at 11 after a Cassidy Dumont 3-pointer, but those were the last points of the game for the Knights. Caroline Siekman made a layup-and-one with 1:45 to go for a 16-point margin, putting the game away.

Raelin Burns finished with a game-high 21 points and Cassidy Dumont ended with 13 points for the Knights. For Vassar, Tova Gelb produced 18 points and 11 rebounds, while both Nayia Kurnik and Julia Harvey contributed 10 points.