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TROY, N.Y. - Courtney Tennant scored 23 points with eight rebounds in only 13 minutes to lead the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) women's basketball team to a 73-49 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in a Liberty League contest at RPI's East Campus Arena. The Tigers improve to 14-10 overall and 10-4 in the league, while the Engineers drop to 7-17 and 5-10.

RIT held a 30-24 lead at halftime and went on a 31-6 run in the first nine minutes of the second half to build its big lead. Tennant (Cortland, NY / Cortland) scored 17 of her points in that stretch. The Engineers scored 19 of the final 31 points over the last 11 minutes.

A senior center, Tennant made 8 of 12 shots from the field and 7 of 10 from the free throw line for her game-high 23 points. Of her eight rebounds, seven came on the defensive end. She also blocked a shot in her limited action. Kayla Wheeler (Clifton Park, NY / Shenendehowa), another senior, added 12 points and Mallory Apperson (Bemus Point, NY / Maple Grove) had seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

As a team, the Tigers made 50% of its second half shots (14 of 28), after making 38.2% (13 of 34) in the first half. Defensively, they held RPI to 20.0% shooting (14 of 70) in the game, including 17.1% (6 of 35) in the first half.

Rensselaer was paced in scoring by junior Amanda Lynch (Middletown, NY / John S. Burke), who had 11 points with seven rebounds. Sophomore Ashley Clough (West Chesterfield, NH / Keene), had 10 points, all in the first half, and nine rebounds, while senior Zysnia Osepa (Melrose, NY / Tamarac) also had 10 points. It was the final home game for Osepa, a senior, along with classmate Kelly Piotrowski (Schenectady, NY / Schalmont). Meg Denison (Colrain, MA / Northfield Mount Hermon) is also a senior who has remaining eligibilty and expects to return to the team. 

The Engineers close out the season on Saturday at league foe Union College, while RIT, which will finish fourth in the league standings and play St. Lawrence University in the semifinals of the league tournament next week, plays at Skidmore College in the regular season finale for both teams. Saturda's games begin at 2pm.