Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Rensselaer women's basketball team scored 34 points in the first half and went on to beat Vassar, 59-50, Tuesday night. With the victory, the Red Hawks keep their playoff hopes alive, improving their record to 11-11 overall and 6-6 in Liberty League play. The Brewers fall to 4-16 on the season, including 0-12 in the conference.
RPI opened the game shooting hot from the field and built up a 16 point lead just ten minutes into the first half, 22-6. With Vassar forward Emily Haeuser (South Portland, ME/South Portland) in foul trouble early in the game, the Red Hawks made the most of their height advantage and forced the ball inside to the strong post duo of junior Elizabeth Barker (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) and senior Tory Lyons (Feeding Hills, MA/Agawam).
The Brewers responded with a scoring run of their own to cut the lead down to 10 a number of times in the first half. Senior guard Elise Okusami (Olney, MD/Georgetown Day) was instrumental in keeping the Vassar offense alive. Okusami scored 9 first-half points and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Her 3-pointer with 35 ticks to go in the first half cut the RPI lead to 11 once again, 34-23.
It was in the second half that the Brewers really chipped away at the RPI lead, which swelled to 15 when senior guard Missy Jackman (Danvers, MA/Danvers) connected on a three-ball with under 14 minutes to play to give RPI a 45-30 advantage. Vassar responded with an 11-1 offensive burst, which came to an end when sophomore Ashley Sherman (Hewlett Harbor, NY/Lynbrook) made a 3-pointer to bring her team within five points. Sherman’s basket brought the score to 46-41 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, but Vassar would not score for the next four minutes and RPI was able to hold the Brewers off and secure the win.
RPI connected on six straight free throw attempts in the final two minutes, despite shooting just 3 for 8 from the charity stripe prior to that. Jackman scored a team-high 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Barker and Lyons each added 12 points and eight and six rebounds, respectively.
For the Brewers, Okusami finished with a game-high 15 points. Her fellow senior and starting point guard, Chelsea Katzenberg (Middlesex, VT/U-32) played the entire 40 minutes and finished with 8 points, five rebounds and five assists. Haeuser finished with eight points and 10 boards.
The Brewers will host St. Lawrence this Friday evening at 6:00 pm and Clarkson for its senior day at 2:00 pm on Saturday. RPI will play Clarkson on Friday and St. Lawrence on Saturday, both at home, to close out the regular season.
