ALBANY – Sophomore guard Ashley Rath nearly doubled her previous career-high of 14 points with 26 to lead The College of Saint Rose to a 64-42 season-opening victory against visiting Bloomfield this afternoon at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights (1-0) held the Lady Deacons to 26.7 percent (16-for-60) shooting from the floor and forced them into 21 turnovers to chalk up their fourth consecutive season-opening victory.

Saint Rose put itself in the driver's seat with a 9-0 spurt midway through the first half that transformed a 16-15 advantage into a 25-15 cushion with 2:19 to go until the break. Rath, who wound up 11-for-13 from the floor, ignited the run with a 3-pointer and senior guard Elizabeth Buckley capped it by draining the second of two free throws.

The Golden Knights took their nine point advantage into the locker room, before sophomore guard Adrianna Gaeta buried a jumper at the onset of the second stanza that afforded them a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. The lead eventually blossomed to 20, 55-35, following a hoop by junior forward Amy Voelkel with 6:31 remaining and reached its highest peak of 25, 62-37, on the heels of two free throws from sophomore forward Alison McGrath in the final two minutes.

Aside from Rath, junior guard Lynsey Timbrouck and McGrath finished with eight points each and Buckley had six. Additionally, freshman forward Emily Trapp added five points in 14 minutes off the bench for the Golden Knights who had nine players receive at least 10 minutes of playing time.

Nichole Hawkins registered a “double-double” with 10 points and 11 rebounds to pace Bloomfield (0-1). Milani Malik and Vanessa Lamison added 11 and 10 points respectively.

Up next, Saint Rose will open the Northeast-10 Conference portion of its schedule Wednesday with a 5:30 pm date at Assumption in Worcester, MA. Meanwhile, the Lady Deacons have a non-league date Friday at UMass Lowell. Tip-off is set for 8:00 pm.

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