GENESEO, N.Y. - The SUNY Geneseo women's basketball team couldn't pull off a late rally on Saturday afternoon against Ithaca, ultimately falling 62-54. The Knights dip to 7-3 on the season with the loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Knights took an early 4-3 lead behind a pair of free throws from Sofia Vasselman and Kristin Suydam, and kept the first quarter close as Vasselman knocked a three with two minutes left to go up by one. However, the Bombers stole the momentum to close out the opening 10 minutes by knocking down two shots from deep in the final minute to go up 18-12.
• Geneseo struggled to flip the momentum in their favor in the second quarter, and entered halftime down 35-20.
• The Knights defense came out strong to open the third quarter, holding Ithaca scoreless for over six minutes. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the shots to fall that they needed to close the gap and trailed by 12 entering the final 10 minutes of action.
• Facing a deficit of 20 points, Geneseo's offense found its rhythm and put the pressure on the Bombers. Eva Elliot got the run going with a layup, then Kathleen Birmingham and Kristin Suydam knocked down back-to-back threes. Birmingham kept it going with a rebound put back, then Zephyr Connolly knocked down a three to make it a seven-point game with less than a minute left. Geneseo's rally ran out of time in the closing seconds, and fell 62-54.

QUICK FACTS:

• Suydam tallied a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 5-7 from the field and 3-4 from downtown.
• Elliot reached double-digit scoring at 11, while Grace Galgano chipped in eight boards.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Knights will return to conference action on Friday, Jan. 9 when they host Nazareth at 5:30 p.m.