TROY, N.Y. – Senior guard Eliza Srinivasan scored nine consecutive points in the final 1:55 of the third quarter to give the Vassar College women's basketball team a seven point lead heading into the fourth quarter and the Brewers went on to a 67-55 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The victory keeps Vassar in the hunt for the conference regular season title as it improves to 11-3 in the league and 14-7 overall. The Engineers fall to 6-8 and 9-12.
RPI's
Molly Libby connected on a three pointer from the right side of the arc for a 39-37 lead with 2:13 to play in the third quarter. Srinivasan, who was scoreless in the first half and had only two points in the game to that point, tied the score with a pair of free throws. She then hit on a layup at the 1:28 mark, a triple with eight seconds remaining, and another layup – this one at the buzzer after a steal by teammate Alex Lee – to give her team a 46-39 lead.
The fourth quarter scoring opened with another pair of free throws from Srinivasan, which gave her 11 straight points. Rensselaer senior
Lolo Reynolds snapped the string with a free throw and
Brielle Sharry backed it up with a left handed layup in the paint to get the home team to within six points, 48-42, with 6:51 left in the frame.
Lee later made a layup and Reynolds immediately drained a trey to cut the deficit to six points, 53-47, but that was as close as RPI could get the rest of the contest.
Srinivasan finished with 19 points and nine rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. Tova Gelb scored 18 points with 10 boards and Lee had 12 points.
Heather Converse led Rensselaer with 21 points, along with six rebounds, and two steals. Sharry had nine points and a team-best seven rebounds.
The teams shot nearly identical percentages with Vassar connecting on 35.8 percent of its attempts (24 of 67) and RPI on 35.6 percent (21 of 59). Both squads made four three pointers, but the Brewers had 15 free throws (19 attempts) to RPI's nine (12 attempts). The visitors also had a 47-33 edge in rebounds, including 14-5 on the offensive glass.
