(Potsdam, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton women's basketball team captured the Sunrise Conference regular season title on Saturday with a hard fought 59-55 win over the University of Maine at Fort Kent at Clarkson University's Alumni Gym. The Roos also secure the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament on Feb 22-23 in Portland, Maine. SUNY Canton is now 10-1 in the conference and 10-8 overall while the Bengals dropped to 9-2 and 15-10.

With a large crowd dressed in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the two teams battled right to the end. There were nine ties and 11 lead changes throughout the game.

SUNY Canton, who trailed 22-21 at halftime, finally went ahead for good following an offensive rebound and put back by Kristi Farrell (Ogdensburg, N.Y.) that made the score 49-47 with 5:10 left in the second half. Baskets by Jackie Maynard (Brasher Falls, N.Y.) and Shannon LaFave (Ogdensburg, N.Y.) then stretched the lead to six points, which was the largest lead the Roos had all night.

But the Bengals didn't go away and hit two big 3-pointers in the final 23 seconds to stay close.

But Lauren Ploof (Hammond, N.Y.) came up big again as she has done throughout her two-year career by calmly sinking four straight free throws to seal the win.

Ploof finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. She also had three assists and one steal while playing the entire 40 minutes.

Megan Davis (Hammond, N.Y.) added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Roos. Farrell and Maynard each finished with nine points and LaFave had seven points and six boards.

The Bengals were led by Ashley Ames who scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots. Arcilla Jeffers added 13 points and nine rebounds and Shir Fuchs chipped in with 11 points and four rebounds.

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