GENESEO, NY -- The No. 7 RIT women's basketball team (5-1) defeated No. 5 SUNY Brockport 64-59 in the fifth place game of the 23rd Annual Wendy's College Classic hosted by SUNY Geneseo on Saturday. It is the second straight season the Tigers placed fifth at the Classic.
RIT shot 38.7 percent from the floor on 24-of-62 shooting. The TIgers wnet 4-of-17 from behind the arc, and were 12-of-22 from the foul line.
Amanda Olsen (Glen Mills, PA/Archmere Academy) led RIT with a career-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Jessica Glaz (Rockaway Beach, NY/Scholars Academy) added 20 points and seven rebounds, shooting 9-of-13 from the floor.
Tara Lynch (Green Township, NJ/Newton) scored 12 points, while
Julia Bender (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) grabbed nine rebounds to go along with five points, three assists and two steals.
Olivia Suhr led Brockport with 18 points and seven rebounds. Hannah Spencer added 17 points, while Jenna Lividini tallied 10 points, for the Golden Eagles who shot 32.3 percent from the floor. Becky Rossier led the Golden Eagles with 10 rebounds.
RIT held a 16-14 lead after the first quarter, and held a 31-29 lead at the half. At the end of the first quarter, RIT trailed 11-10, but closed out the quarter with a 4-0 burst, taking a 16-13 lead on a layup by
Cori Okada (Fullerton, CA/Troy) at the buzzer. The Tigers led 27-21 at the 5:12 mark of the second quarter, their largest lead of the game to that point. After a pair of Suhr free throws tied the score at 29-29,
Jessica Shields (Lyons, NY/Newark) converted a pair of free throws with three seconds to play in the half giving RIT a slim 31-29 advantage.
Tied 31-31 at the start of the third quarter, RIT answered with a 13-2 run, taking a 44-33 lead on a layup by Lynch off an assist from Okada with 4:48 to play. Glaz's 3-pointer with two seconds to play in the third gave RIT its largest lead of the game at 51-37. Olsen scored eight points in the third to pace the Tigers, while Glaz and Lynch each scored five points.
RIT led 59-48 with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Brockport got to within three points late in the game, but timely free throws by Lynch with four seconds to play sealed the win and the fifth place finish for the Tigers.
RIT held a 45-41 rebounding edge, including 18 offensive boards. RIT scored 15 second-chance points, and tallied 34 points in the paint, and had 25 points off of 18 Brockport turnovers.
The Tigers return to action on Friday, Dec. 11 when they host Buffalo State College at 6 p.m. on the floor of Clark Gymnaisum.
