TROY, N.Y. - Junior guard Ines Ortea notched a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, along with five steals, and 10 of her teammates also scored as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team defeated Bard College 64-38 in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. RPI improves to 6-8 in the conference and keepd its post-season hopes alive. The Engineers are 11-10 overall. The Raptors fall to 5-17 and 0-14.

Ortea was 6 of 12 from the field and 3 of 6 from the free throw line, while pulling down nine offensive rebounds. Senior Elizabeth Eckhardt led all Rensselaer scorers with 18 points, along with three rebounds and a pair of assists. No other player reached double digits, though five had at least four points. Sam O'Keefe pulled down nine rebounds for RPI, which held a 67-34 advantage on the glass, including 30 offensive rebounds.

Bard was led by freshman Christina Kiser, who scored 30 points on 7 of 20 shooting from the field and 16 of 21 from the free throw line. She also had six rebounds and five steals.

With the score tied at 4-4 early in the first quarter, Rensselaer went on an 13-1 run to go ahead 17-5 with three minutes left in the frame. Eckhardt had a three and five others scored two points apiece in the stretch. RPI opened its lead to 14 points by the end of the first quarter.

The Engineers outscored the Raptors by nine points in the second (18-9) for a 39-16 halftime lead and led by double digits the rest of the contest.

RPI returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it hosts league-leading Vassar College at 2pm. Bard plays at William Smith on Saturday afternoon.