ELMIRA, NY – The RIT women's basketball team (7-1) ended the 2015 calendar year with a stellar effort, recording its best start in program history with an 87-53 victory over host Elmira College (3-6) from Speidel Gymnasium on Wednesday afternoon. Five different players scored in double figures for RIT.
 
Jessica Glaz (Rockaway Beach, NY/Scholars Academy) and Amanda Olsen (Glen Mills, PA/Archmere Academy) led a balanced attack, leading all scorers with 14 points each. Kara Birrell (Keego Harbor, MI/Walled Lake) notched a career-high 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Tara Lynch (Green Township, NJ/Newton) scored 11 points and Julia Bender (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) scored 10 to round out the five Tiger players in double digits. Maria Edwards (Forrest Hill, MD/The Carroll School) tallied seven assists and six rebounds to hekp pace the RIT offense.
 
Every player recorded at least a point in the game, as the RIT bench unit outscored Elmira's 36-15. The Tigers also shot a blistering 58 percent from the field for their fourth straight victory.
 
Meghan Loya scored 13 points, adding seven rebounds to lead the Soaring Eagles, who were held to 35.7 percent from the field, and just 40 percent from the charity stripe.
 
This was the first time the two teams met since they were conference foes in the Empire 8, during the 2010-2011 season. Elmira leads the all-time series between the two schools, 29-11.
 
"Overall it was a great team effort," said RIT women's basketball head coach Amy Reed. "We had everybody come in and score and move the ball well today."
 
RIT started the game making three of its first four baskets. The Tigers took the 11-10 lead on a 3-pointer by Olsen. On the next possession, Edwards found Glaz on the break, who then passed it across court to Bender on the wing, absorbing contact to make the bucket, starting a 7-0 run. Elmira responded with a run of their own to cut the RIT lead to one, but a late Okada 3-poonter pushed the lead to 24-18 after one quarter of play.
 
Okada stayed hot at the other end of the break, as she hit consecutive 3-point bombs to help push the lead to 16, at 34-18. But the Soaring Eagles began chipping away at the RIT lead. Consecutive baskets by Elmira's Emily Green reduced the deficit to 42-34. After a pair of free throws by Jessica Shields (Lyons, NY/Newark), RIT held a 45-34 lead at the break.
 
The Tigers erupted with a big 15-2 run to begin the second half, in part by two 3-point plays by Lynch. RIT held the Soaring Eagles to four points in the third quarter, a season-best as they built a 64-38 lead. Birrell went on a tear in the closing period, starting with consecutive baskets, leading to a 12-point effort.
 
"I thought our defensive effort was not very good in the first half, and we talked about it at halftime," said Reed. "We stepped up defensively in the second half, and Julia [Bender] did an amazing job on their best player."
 
The Tigers will return to action in 2016 with a road contest against Johns Hopkins University (2-5) on Jan. 2 at 5 p.m.