TROY, N.Y. – Senior captain Elizabeth Eckhardt scored seven straight points in the fourth quarter to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team to a 66-57 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), on Saturday afternoon at East Campus Arena. With the win, the Engineers improve to 7-4 overall (2-2 Liberty League), while the Tigers drop to 8-2 (3-1 Liberty League).

Eckhardt (Albany, NY/Guilderland) finished with a game-high 17 points, including all seven points in a 7-0 run that helped seal the win late in the fourth quarter. Tied 53-53 with under two minutes to play, Eckhardt took a cross-court pass from junior Ines Ortea (Madrid, Spain/Fillmore Central) and drilled a go-ahead three pointer. Follow successive misses at the other end of the floor, she went a combined 4 for 4 from the line to open up a 60-53 advantage.

The Engineers were able to sink its free throws in the final minute to hang on for the win.

Rensselaer use strong shooting from the floor to open up a 23-17 lead after one quarter of play. The Engineers made 5 of 7 three-points in the opening 10 minutes, including 3 of 4 from senior Eckhardt, who had all nine of her first half points in the stanza.

After the Engineers appeared to be pulling away late in the second quarter, RIT senior captain Cori Okada (Fullerton, CA/Troy) drilled a straight away triple with two seconds on the clock, pulling the visitors with 38-31 at the break. The three was just the second made by a Tigers player in nine attempts to that point.

A slow moving third quarter saw RPI outscore the Tigers, 9-6, but RIT started to heat up early in the fourth, using a 10-0 edge in points in the paint to mount a comeback.  

Freshman Alyssa Juergens (Rochester, NY/Hilton) gave the visitors their first lead of the game (49-48) with 6:43 to play in regulation and the Tigers were able to push the advantage to as much as four (53-49) with just under four minutes remaining.

Solid free throw shooting and Eckhardt's big three pointer led RPI back, however, as the hosts finished the night shooting 67.7% from the line (16 of 22 in the 4th quarter) and 46.2% from behind the arc. The Engineers out-rebounded RIT, 44-38, thanks in part to a game-high 14 from senior captain LaKissa Martin (Las Vegas, NV/Rancho), who also had 15 points for a double-double. Classmate and fellow captain Sam O'Keefe (Allentown, PA/Parkland) had eight points and five assists at the point.

RIT was paced by 16 points from Okada, who also had six assists and three steals. Junior captain Brooke Stanley (Minnetonka, MN/Benilde-St. Margaret's) added 15 points and five rebounds.

The Engineers return to the court on Tuesday, when they visit William Smith for a 5pm tip-off. RIT hosts Ithaca on Tuesday (5pm).