ST. CHARLES, MO – Senior Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) became the 13th player in the history of the RIT women's hockey program to record 100 career points, scoring the game-winning goal 2:25 into overtime to lift the Tigers (10-14-3, 4-8-1 CHA) to a wild 5-4 come-from-behind win over Lindenwood University (7-16-1, 4-8-1 CHA) Friday night at the Lindenwood Ice Arena.

McCrea picked up a loose puck and fired it past Lindenwood goaltender Nicole Hensley for her sixth goal of the season and 66th of her RIT career, tying her with Jen Gorczynski '04 for third most all-time at the university. McCrea now has 66 goals and 34 assists in her RIT career. Eleven of her 66 goals are game-winners.
 
Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) led the Tigers with a career-high three points on her first career goal and two assists. Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy), Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers), Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic), and McCrea each netted a goal, while Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) and Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State) added an assist apiece. In goal, Brooke Stoddart (Elmvale, Ontario/Elmvale) made 15 saves on 16 shots over the final 56:09 for her second win of the season.
 
The five goals tied a season-high, also set on Oct. 25 in a 5-2 win over Brown.

Lindenwood exploded to a 3-0 lead just 6:16 into the opening period to chase RIT starting goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs), who entered the game with a 1.46 goals against average and .945 save percentage. Jordyn Constance scored twice and Carrie Atkins added another on just four first period shots. Shara Jasper and Katie Nokelby each added a helper on the opening goal.
 
Brown scored the first goal for RIT 14:57 into the second period on a Tiger power-play off of a dish from Grigg. Just 1:06 later Paton scored her fifth goal of the season from Thurston to cut the Lindenwood lead to 3-2 going into the third period.
 
Just 59 seconds into the third, Thurston tied the game with her first collegiate goal. RIT would complete the comeback and take its first lead of the game at 4-3, as Payerl would tally with assists going to Thurston and Northcote with 1:02 left
 
Just 19 seconds later, Jasper tied the game at 4-4, sending the contest to overtime.
 
RIT outshot Lindenwood 41-20, while the Tigers were 1-of-3 on the man-advantage and the Lady Lions went 1-of-2.
 
"Tonight was a true gut check for us," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "We could have easily given up, but the girls found a way to chip away and never give up on themselves. Tonight showed the true character of our team."
 
RIT is now 5-2-4 all-time against the Lady Lions and 2-1-2 from the Lindenwood Ice Arena. This was the first overtime win against Lindenwood, recording a 1-0-4-overtime mark against the Lady Lions. 
 
It was RIT's second overtime win in one week, as they defeated Syracuse 4-3 on Jan. 23 from the Gene Polisseni Center on a goal from Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres). The Tigers are now 2-2-3 in overtime this season.
 
Tonight was the third of four regular season meetings between the two schools this season, now knotted at 1-1-1. On Oct. 31, Paton scored RIT's only goal in the 1-1 overtime tie against Lindenwood. The next day, Grigg scored RIT's lone goal in a 3-1 defeat, while Binnington made 26 saves in both games that weekend.
 
The two teams wrap up their regular season series on Saturday night at the Lindenwood Ice Arena, with the opening face-off scheduled for 4 p.m. EST.