POTSDAM, NY -- Senior Cara Manfredi made a career-high seven 3-pointers en route to a personal best 34 points as the Clarkson University women's basketball team defeated Union College 81-69 Liberty League win on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium. The Golden Knights improved to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the Liberty League, while Union dropped to 8-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Manfredi scored a career-high 34 points, shooting 11-for-27 from the field overall and 7-for-17 from beyond the arc. Ashley Loggins nearly produced a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Devin Sorell chipped in 11 points. For Union, Jenni Barra had a team-high 17 points while both Kate Thompson and Natalie Leone had 13 points and nine rebounds. Abby Katz also almost had a double-double with 10 points and eight boards.

Union raced out to an early advantage by making its first three shots for a 7-0 lead forcing the Knights to call a timeout early on in the contest. But that break settled Clarkson down and the team came back to tie the score at 13-13 just a few minutes later and gained a small advantage at 11:40 (18-17). With just over eight minutes to go in the second half, Clarkson trailed by three, but used a 12-3 run in the next three minutes to gain a small foothold against the Dutchwomen. The key for the Knights in maintaining that advantage proved to be Manfredi, who initially struggled from the floor but found a groove late in the first half to push Clarkson out to a nine-point advantage (38-29) following a steal in the backcourt and quickly converting the layup with 2:45 remaining.

In the second half, Union made several strong runs at Clarkson to get back into the game, but every time Manfredi seemed to have an answer from beyond the 3-point arc. Up by just four early on in the second half (41-37), she buried a 3-pointer to give the Knights a seven-point lead. Midway through the period, up by only five (57-52, 8:44 to go), she made another 3-pointer. Similarly up by only five (62-57, 5:00 to go), she made another 3-pointer, and with less than two minutes to go in the game, and again with Clarkson only up by five, she hit a clutch 3-pointer to return the Knights to an eight-point advantage. From that point on, Clarkson was able to make free throws down the stretch to claim the win.

The Dutchwomen open up a three game home week Tuesday night at 6 p.m. against RIT.