POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team controlled the tempo from the opening tip and used a decisive third-quarter surge to pull away for a 61–44 season-opening win over SUNY Potsdam at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium.

Emilia Rojik paced a balanced effort with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Callie Flynn stuffed the box score with nine points, four steals, four blocks, and game-leading 10 rebounds.
RPI set the tone early, pushing in transition and finishing at the rim to build an 18–8 lead after the first quarter.

Rojik slashed for three layups and an and-one during the opening frame, complemented by runout finishes from Sophie Costello and Tyler Hormazabal. Potsdam briefly steadied in the second, trimming the margin, but Rojik answered again in the lane and Hormazabal added a paint touch to send the Engineers into halftime in front, 26–19.

The game broke open after the halftime. Flynn jumped a passing lane to spark a fast-break layup, and Simran Randhawa followed with back-to-back finishes and two free throws as the advantage swelled to double digits. Guard Siena Smith canned a right-wing three to make it 41–27, and a late transition bucket from Hormazabal closed the third with RPI comfortably ahead, 45–32. The Engineers kept their foot down in the fourth, as Smith went coast-to-coast to push the lead to 17, and Molly Libby buried a late three to punctuate the 61–44 final.

The Engineers held the Bears to 21.8 percent shooting (12-of-55), turned 15 steals into 21 fast-break points, and owned the interior with 38 points in the paint while hitting 23-of-55 from the field themselves (41.8 percent). Hormazabal finished with nine points and two steals, Smith added an efficient seven on perfect shooting, and the bench combined for 32 points, including six points apiece from Randhawa and Costello.

RPI will finish its season-opening weekend up north with a 2:00 pm meeting at Plattsburgh.