ITHACA, N.Y. - A last-second shot from Ithaca's Hannah Polce fell through the twine of the net as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team fell in heartbreaking fashion by a final score of 61-60 on the road Friday evening. With the loss, RPI falls to 6-10 and 3-6 in league play, while Ithaca maintains their spot atop the Liberty League with an overall record of 13-2 and 7-1.

RPI started strong, opening a seven point lead after the first quarter thanks to a late jumper from Danielle Strauf to give the Engineers an 18-11 lead heading to the second. A layup from Julia Rowe to start the second quarter pushed the RPI lead to nine before Ithaca made their comeback.
 
Ithaca turned in a 9-0 run over two and a half minutes to bring things all even at 20-all. From that point, both sides battled with neither side gaining a lead larger than five points. Through three quarters of play, Ithaca held a slight advantage, 49-47.
 
A high-pressure fourth quarter looked it may fall in RPI's favor, as a late layup from Siena Smith off a steal with 24 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Engineers the slight 60-59 advantage. However, Ithaca ran the clock down and Polce tossed the ball up and in despite solid defense from the Engineers and giving Ithaca the last-second win, 61-60.
 
Smith led the way with 16 points, while Nicole DaPra turned in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Strauf was a strong distributor, tossing out six assists. For Ithaca, Junie Dickson led the way with a game-high 23 points while Anya Watkins added a 17-point, 10 rebounds double-double.
 
RPI returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. when they head to Schenectady to take on Union in league play.