POTSDAM -- The SUNY Potsdam women’s basketball team got its first victory of the season Friday night, downing Canton 69-50 in Maxcy Hall.

Sophomore guard Katy Briedis (Canton, N.Y./Cushing Academy) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Bears past the Roos.

Potsdam opened the game with a 23-7 run and never looked back. A jumper at the 11:30 mark by freshman forward Jessica Kouzan (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) capped the run and gave the Bears their biggest lead of the half. Potsdam led 34-22 after 20 minutes, while shooting nearly 47 percent from the floor and holding Canton to under 23 percent.

Potsdam Head Coach Tara Ruckh felt the fast start was key the Bears’ strong performance. “Getting those first few baskets was important,” said Ruckh. “We had good intensity over the first five minutes.”

Canton opened the second half with an 11-4 run of its own. A jumper by Kristi Vibbard with 17:46 remaining cut Potsdam’s lead to 38-33.

The scare got the Bears moving again and they began to pull away. Junior forward Kaley Arsenault (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) hit a jumper with 3:37 remaining to give Potsdam a 66-45 lead, its biggest of the contest. The Bears went on to the 69-50 win.

Potsdam shot 56.5 percent in the second half and 50.9 percent for the game.

Senior guards Aimee Kellicutt (Lisle, N.Y./Whitney Point) and Brittany Whitton (De Kalb, N.Y./Hermon-De Kalb) also had strong efforts for the Bears with 8 points and six rebounds and seven points and two boards, respectively. Shannon Lafave led Canton with 18 points and seven rebounds and teammate Vibbard contributed 12 points.

Ruckh was pleased with her team’s performance.

“We defended better and moved the ball better. We wanted to push the tempo and get transition points and we were able to,” said Ruckh. “Overall, it was a good team effort and we played well together.”