GENEVA, NY – The RIT women's basketball team (11-4, 4-2 Liberty League) came back in the fourth quarter to beat William Smith College (4-9, 2-3 Liberty League) 82-78 in Liberty League action from Bristol Gymnasium Tuesday evening. It is RIT's third straight win over the Herons, including both regular season meetings last year.
 
Tara Lynch (Green Township, NJ/Newton) led all scorers with a career-high 25 points, shooting 10-for-20 from the field, while grabbing 10 rebounds. Jessica Glaz (Rockaway Beach, NY/Scholars Academy) tallied 15 points, while Cori Okada (Fullerton, CA/Troy) added 10 points off the bench for the Tigers. RIT shot 40.0 percent from the floor on 30-of-75 shooting. THe Tigers went 13-of-30 from behind the arc, and went 9-of-14 from the foul line.

"Tara was a force on the block tonight," said RIT Head Coach Amy Reed. "She made some big shots down the stretch. I thought Taylor (Burns) really played great off the bench for us tonight."
 
Olivia Hughes led William Smith with 18 points, while Melanie Patterson and K. Quinn-Moultrie each scored 15 points for the Herons. Gabrielle Eure had 10 rebounds for William Smith who shot 43.1 percent from the floor on 28-of-65 shooting.

RIT led briefly in the first quarter, but the Herons out scored RIT 7-0 over the final 4:07 of the quarter, taking a 19-12 lead. The Herons extended their lead to eight points on a 3-pointer by Patterson at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter.

That sparked a RIT run, as they out-scored the Herons 14-7 over a 4:24 span in the quarter. RIT took its first lead on a 3-pointer by Glaz with 4:38 to play in the half, giving the Tigers a 28-27 lead. William Smith would respond, taking a 37-31 lead on a three from Alyssa DiCampli with 2:14 to play. RIT scored five quick points inside the final 26 seconds, including a free throw by Lynch with four seconds to play making it 37-35 Herons at the half.

"We really struggled on the defensive end," said Reed. "But we competed and found a way to grind it out and hit some big shots down the stretch."

William Smith built a 10-point lead in the third quarter, taking a 55-45 lead on a layup by Eure with 3:40 to play . The Tigers battled back, tying the score at 60-60 on a bucket by Taylor Burns (Rochester, NY/Greece Odyssey) with 21 seconds to play off a nice dish from Maria Edwards (Forrest Hill, MD/The Carroll School), who finished with a career high nine assists.

The fourth quarter was nip and tuck the whole way. Burns gave RIT a 64-63 lead on her 3-pointer with 7:28 to play in the quarter. Four straight points by the Herons gave William Smith a 73-69 on three pointer from DiCampli with 4:29 to play. Lynch answered with a long distance ball for RIT with 4:13 to play cutting the lead to 73-72.

A jumper by Olivia Hughes with 2:50 to play gave the Herons a 75-74 lead. The Tigers would take the lead back on their next possession on a jumper by Glaz. Sarah Brophy tied the score at 78-78 on her 3-pointer with 40 seconds to play.

Lynch answered back with a layup with 16 seconds to play giving the Tigers the lead for good at 80-78. Hughes had a chance for the win on her 3-pointer with time running out. But her shot was off and Glaz gathered the rebound and secure the win.

RIT held a slight 43-41 rebounding edge, grabbing 18 offensive boards, scoring eight second chance points. The Tigers tallied 26 points in the paint and tallied 23 points off of 16 William Smith turnovers.

RIT returns to action on Friday, Jan. 22 when the Tigers host Vassar College at 6 p.m. on the floor of Clark Gym.