Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Senior guard
Sarah Wetmore poured in a game-best 19 points to lead the Rensselaer women's basketball team to a 65-59 Liberty League victory at Vassar. The Engineers - winners of five straight - improve to 14-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play, while the Brewers slip to 12-8 and 6-5 in the Liberty League.
Holding a 22-19 lead at halftime, the visiting Engineers saw their lead begin to slip early in the second half as Vassar's Hannah Sentfleber drained a jumper to make it a 22-21 score at 18:55. RPI managed to pull the advantage back to six (32-26) at 16:23 behind a three-pointer from
Kelly Piotrowski, and later held a nine-point lead as Wetmore hit a layup at 12:11 to make it a 42-33 game.
Rensselaer went on to score 11-points over the next five minutes, including five points from Wetmore and the last four of the stretch by senior forward
Hillary McKinley, who went on to finish with 13 points and a game-best 16 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
Leading by as many as 15 (55-40) with 7:59 left in the game, the Engineers saw their advantage begin to slip away as the homestanding Brewers found momentum. Four straight points from Michael Jankowski cut the deficit to 57-50 with 3:48 on the clock and Vassar made it a three-point game (59-56) with 1:21 to play behind a pair of free throw makes from Sentfleber.
Rensselaer took advantage of three Brewers fouls down the stretch, capitalizing at the free throw line with six straight scores, including four from rookie
Jen Rock. The Engineers proved outstanding at the charity stripe, shooting 92.3% (12 for 13) for the game and a perfect 10 for 10 in the second half.
In addition to Wetmore and McKinley, RPI saw
Bailei Tetrault and Piotrowski pour in nine points each.
Leading the way for Vassar was Cydni Matsuoka, who had 12 points. Sentfleber and Brittany Parks each chipped in with 10 points, including a team-best nine rebounds from Parks.
Rensselaer, which moved into sole possession of second-place in the league standings, is back on the court on Friday in a critical league game at RIT (6pm). Vassar is also in action on Friday, traveling to Potsdam to take on Clarkson (6pm).
