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ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team overcame a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter and the Engineers battled back to defeat Bard College 55-52 in a Liberty League contest.
Three student-athletes had 10 points apiece to help RPI improve to 8-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference. The Raptors, who got a game-high 23 points from Christina Kiser, fall to 4-7 and 0-6.
It was a battle from the start. RPI led by one after one quarter, but Bard led at the half, 31-27. Kiser, the nation's leading scorer, led Bard with 15 points, and fellow freshman Jess Rylander had 11 points, to go with four rebounds and three assists.
Sam O'Keefe and
Courtney Lewis both had seven first half points to pace the visitors.
The biggest lead either team had in the entire game was when Bard went up 34-27 in the third quarter. But the Raptors cooled off, and RPI cut the lead to three entering the fourth quarter.
Kiser had 21 points by then, but RPI was really making an effort to deny her the ball. Fortunately, Bard junior Katie Esposito kept Bard in it with 10 second-half points. Her layup with 7:34 left in the game gave Bard a 46-42 lead, but RPI responded with a 8-0 run, and Bard was down four.
A layup by
Brielle Sharry gave RPI its biggest lead of the game, 54-49, with 1:04 to go, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Esposito cut the deficit to two with 37 seconds left. RPI missed its next shot, but the Engineers grabbed the offensive rebound and
Ines Ortea was fouled with 21 seconds left. She missed both.
After a Bard timeout, Kiser came around a screen and had her three-point attempt blocked by
LaKissa Martin with two seconds left.
Sherry, Martin and Lewis led RPI with 10 points apiece. Ortea added six points and 10 rebounds. Rensselaer had a 46-29 edge on the glass.
Kiser added five rebounds and two steals, while Rylander had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Esposito finished with 12 points, three rebounds and a block.
