ALBANY, N.Y. – Suffolk women's basketball ran its win streak to three as the Rams lifted the lid on its second semester schedule with an 88-79 victory over Sage Saturday afternoon at Kahl Gym.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 88 | Sage 79
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-3) | Sage (4-7)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back and forth in the first five minutes with Sage in the driver's seat, 15-13. The hosts heated up from there though and an 11-1 run by the Gators put the Rams in a 26-14 hole with 3:09 remaining in the opening frame.  

Lily Patneaude and Jenni-Rose DiCecco each knocked down a triple to cut the margin in half with just under two minutes to play. Both teams were held without a field goal the rest of the way in the first and Megan Flynn connected on a freebie to make it a 27-20 Gators game after the first 10 minutes. 

DiCecco pulled the visitors within two possessions on the Rams first possession of the second stanza. Sage took control of things and held onto an eight-point lead, 34-26, at the midway point.  

Once again Patneaude sparked a Suffolk stretch with eight unanswered points coming for the blue-and-gold that leveled the playing field at 34-all with 3:10 to play before the half.  

The teams went hoop-for-hoops before an Allie Lopes layup followed Patneaude's third trey of the day to send Suffolk into the locker up two, 41-39.  

Sage was the first team to score out of the break to even the score for the sixth time. Ed Leyden called his team over to talk things through and the huddle paid off in Rams favor as they scored 20 straight to gain a 61-41 cushion 4:19 into the third quarter.  

The Gators were held without a field goal until there was under four minutes left on the clock. See-saw action ensued and Suffolk's advantage sat at 16, 69-53, after 30 minutes.    

Free throw shooting kept Sage in the contest and cut the Rams' cushion down to 10, 76-66, with 4:49 to play in regulation. That margin continued to shrink down to four, 77-73, at the two-minute warning.    

Now it was Suffolk's time to shoot from the charity stripe. The Rams held onto their lead thanks to their freebie finesse to capture the victory. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Three different players produced double figures in scoring led by a game-high 30-point performance from DiCecco. The floor general scored 11 of her offensive output at the free throw line, going 11-for-14 at the charity stripe, seven of which came in the final minute.
• DeComo and Lopes produced 17 points and 13 points, respectively. The former shot 7-for-15 from the floor, while the latter went 5-for-10 from the field. 
• DiCecco added five assists, three steals and three boards to her stat line. 
• Alexis Hackett had a seven-point, seven-rebound outing with two blocks, one dime and one takeaway.
• Patneaude added a spark off the bench, chipping in nine points in 10 minutes with all three of her buckets coming from behind-the-arc. 
• Suffolk shot 48.4 (31-64) percent from the floor, 31.8 (7-22) percent from three-point range and 67.9 percent (19-28) on freebies.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met Sage for the first time. 
• DiCecco's 30 points mark a career high for the junior. She became the first student-athlete to hit the 30-point plateau since Chelsea Campellone registered 43 points in an 85-63 victory over Lasell January 23, 2016. 
• DeComo scored a career-high 17 points, matching a personal-best seven field goals made. 
• Patneaude had personal-best numbers in points (9) and three-point field goals made (3) and matched a career-high two caroms. 
• Lopes matched a career-high three takeaways. 

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Suffolk will meet MIT Thursday, Jan. 9. The Rams will host the Engineers at Emerson at 7:30 p.m.