TROY, N.Y. - With their hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament alive, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team travels to Ithaca College to face the Bombers in the Liberty League Tournament Semifinals on Saturday at 1pm. The matchup, their third of the season, pits the fourth-seeded Engineers against Ithaca, the top seed, while No. 2 Vassar College and No. 3 St. Lawrence University play in the other semifinal (3:30pm). The championship game is Sunday at 1pm with the winner earning an automatic berth into the national field.

RPI and the Bombers split their two regular season contests with both teams winning away games. The first ended with Rensselaer on top 56-54 thanks to a buzzer beating layup by senior Celia Tomlinson (South Kingstown, RI / South Kingstown) on January 25. Fifteen days later in Troy, Ithaca got 24 points and 11 rebounds from junior Grace Cannon in a 66-46 victory.

Rensselaer has won five straight games since its loss to the Bombers, including a 65-59 victory over fifth-seeded William Smith College in a first round game on Tuesday night. Tomlinson had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Sam Krumbhaar (Glen Burnie, MD / North County) scored a game-high 21 points, including eight in the fourth quarter.

Krumbhaar has at least 20 points in four of the last five games and the guard leads the team in points per game (15.3) as well as assists (59), steals (52) and minutes (32.9). Tomlinson, a forward, also has 59 assists, along with team-bests of 11.5 rebounds and 60 blocks. She is second with 15.2 points per game.

Also averaging in double figures is senior guard Ines Ortea (Madrid, Spain / Fillmore Central) and junior guard Courtney Lewis (Port Jefferson, NY / Port Jefferson), who are at 11.8 and 10.2, respectively. Ortea is third in assists (52) and second in steals (52), while Lewis is tops in three-point field goal percentage (41.7%).

The Engineers, who are coached by John Greene, average 67.7 points per game and allow 64.3. They also average more rebounds (43.2-38.2), steals (9.0-6.7) and blocked shots (4.7-2.9) than the opposition.

RPI enters the weekend with a 17-9 record, which includes a 12-6 Liberty League mark. The 17 victories is the most since 2009-10 and the win on Tuesday was its first in the post-season since it won the league tournament that same season.

Ithaca, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals a season ago, are 20-5 with 16 wins (16-2) in conference play. The Bombers have won 10 straight games since they lost to the Engineers in Central New York. Vassar (18-7; 14-4) and St. Lawrence (18-8; 13-5) both have 18 wins, though the Saints needed an 83-54 first round victory over RIT on Tuesday to get to that total.