Women's Basketball | 1/23/2010 4:01:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's basketball (8-7, 2-4 Empire 8) fell to visiting Elmira (2-14, 1-7 Empire 8) by a score of 65-62 at Clark Gym on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers squandered a 10-point second half lead in defeat.

RIT led 48-38 on a pair of free-throws by #Danielle Furman (Coudersport, PA/Coudersport)# with 11:10 left. Elmira would slowly creep back into the game, using a 13-2 run to take its first lead of the second half, 51-50 on a lay-up by Amanda Lawlor.

The Soaring Eagles led by six, 62-56 with just 18 seconds left, before a made free throw by #Shannon Bean (Manchester, ME/Maranacook Community)# cut the lead to five. Bean missed her next free throw, but the rebound came to #Sharon Dennis (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool)#, who found #Brianna O'Dell (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenedehowa)# open for a 3-pointer. O'Dell buried the long range bomb to make the score 62-60.

Becky Peterman made two free throws for Elmira to make it a four-point game. Dennis scored on a lay-up with six seconds left to cut the Elmira lead back to two. A made free throw by Lawlor got the Elmira lead back to three with five seconds left. RIT went down court to attempt the tying shot, but could not get one off in time, as the Soaring Eagles hung on.

Elmira won the battle on the boards, 50-48. RIT turned the ball over 19 times to Elmira's 16. RIT shot 33 percent, while Elmira shot 32 percent.

Becca Fretz led the Soaring Eagles with 18 points. Erin Rupell had a monster game, with 16 points, 15 boards, and five steals. Alysha Giarra added nine points and six assists.

O'Dell led the Tigers with 13 points and five boards. She was 8-for-8 from the free throw line. #Anne Wapshare (Blasdell, NY/Immaculata Academy)# added 12 points, while Dennis just missed a double-double, pulling down 10 rebounds to go along with nine points. She also had five blocks, giving her 64 in just 15 games.

#Leslie Havens (Wayland, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) scored nine points and added three assists, while #Danielle Furman (Coudersport, PA/Coudersport) and Shelby Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport)# each dished out four assists.

RIT led at halftime, 25-24. It was a very evenly played first half, with each team shooting 27 percent.

Elmira leads the all-time series between the two schools, 29-7. Elmira has now won six straight between the two schools and nine of the last ten.

RIT is right back in action on Tuesday, as they travel to Alfred to play the Saxons at 6 p.m.