Potsdam, NY – A huge run in the opening quarter put the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team in the driver's seat on Friday evening, as the Golden Knights cruised to a 67-36 Liberty League win over Bard College at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights improved to 5-7 on the season and 1-4 in the Liberty League, while Bard remained winless in conference games at 0-5 and fell to 2-10 overall.

Although Bard had the first points of the game, Clarkson dominated the first quarter, getting plenty of open looks on the interior with timely cuts for easy layups. In a stretch of less than three minutes, the Knights went on a 13-0 run, including nine points from junior guard Raelin Burns. The run continued, though not at the same pace, as the moments in the opening quarter dwindled with Fallon Griffin capping 18 straight points with a 3-pointer. Clarkson went 7-for-13 in the period while the Raptors made just one of their 12 attempts from the floor.

In the second quarter, it wasn't a low shooting percentage that troubled Bard, but turnovers. The Raptors coughed up possession nine times, one more than the team recorded as shots in the second 10-minute stretch. Meanwhile, the Knights continued to get close looks and again shot better than 50% from the field, going 9-for-17 for 20 points in the period. At the break, two Clarkson players were in double figures as Burns had 11 points and Griffin recorded 10 points, while Cassidy Dumont nearly made it three by going 4-for-5 from the field.

Bard found its offense in the third quarter, scoring more in the first eight minutes of the period than it did in the entirety of the first half. However, Clarkson did enough on its end to maintain at least a 22-point lead for the period, before a driving layup from Veronica Tache pushed the margin back to 24 with only 10 minutes to go.  

The Knights began the fourth quarter a little sluggish on offense, but the margin remained healthy. Veronica Tache made a pair of 3-pointers late in the game, helping Clarkson return its advantage to more than 30 when the final buzzer sounded.

Burns finished with 13 points, Veronica Tache finished with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting with three 3-pointers, and Griffin had 10 points. Bella Doyle came close to double figures with nine, while both Cassidy Dumont and Elizabeth Aiossa challenged double digits with eight points.

For Bard, Lexi Miller had a double-double on 11 points and 13 rebounds while Shirley Dong chipped in 10 points.