UTICA, N.Y.- In the season opener, the SUNY Potsdam women's basketball team (0-1) fell to Utica College (1-0) with a score of 66-49. Junior guard Riley Luckie (Ogdensburg, N.Y./Ogdensburg) led the Bears with 11 points and a game-high five assists. Pioneer guard Ashelyne Babb totaled 17 points with seven rebounds.
Babb hit from behind the arch to open the scoring, but Luckie answered with one of her own for the Bears. Utica's offense picked up at the 6:29 mark, by going on a 12-5 run to get out to a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Freshman guard Alexis Davis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Williamsburg H.S. Architecture & Design) hit a layup to get Potsdam within five, but the Pioneers' answered again for a 13-2 run that was capped with a 3-pointer from guard Kimberly Soriano. Potsdam battled back with back-to-back threes from junior guard Mikayla Horton (Hammond, N.Y./Hammond) and junior captain Abbey Smith (), respectively. Senior forward Emily Drake (Athens, N.Y./Coxsackie-Athens) added two points and Horton chipped in a free throw to bring the score to 32-21 in favor of Utica, going into halftime.
The third quarter had the most scoring with 38 points between the teams. Scoring bounced back-and-forth throughout the 10 minutes of play with the Pioneers holding a 23-15 advantage. Luckie scored five of her 11 points during this time with forward Alaina Tripp hitting twice from behind the arch for six points to lead the Pioneers. The score was 55-36 going into the final quarter.
Potsdam led the scoring in the fourth with the slight 13-11 scoring advantage including six points from sophomore guard Drew Dufrane (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) and four from freshman forward Nicole Hansen (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley). Junior forward Victoria Shopovick (White Plains, N.Y./Maria Regina) and freshman forward Hannah Marcellus (Potsdam, N.Y./Madrid-Waddington) each added two points. The Bears ran out of time before making up the deficit and Utica took the 66-49 win.
Dufrane finished with eight points and a game-high five steals. Horton tacked on seven points in her Potsdam debut and a team-high six rebounds and two steals.
For the Pioneers, Ashley Mayo tallied 12 points, while Tripp added 11 points, three steals and five rebounds.
The Bears are back in action this weekend, when they travel to SUNY Canton to compete in the Kevin Fee Roos Classic. On Friday, Potsdam will battle the host Roos at 7 p.m. and SUNY Poly Saturday at 12 p.m.