ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's basketball team (14-4, 7-2 Liberty League) held off a fourth quarter rally to beat Rensselaer (3-11, 1-5 Liberty League) 68-64 in Liberty League-action from Clark Gymnasium Friday evening. RIT has now won four straight contests. It is RIT's ninth win all-time versus Rensselaer.
 
RIT shot 33.9 percent from the floor on 19-of-56 shooting. The Tigers were just 2-of-20 from 3-point land, and went 28-of-42 from the foul line. Jessica Glaz (Rockaway Beach, NY/Scholars Academy) led the RIT with 16 points, eight rebounds, five steals, and two assists. Maria Edwards (Forrest Hill, MD/The Carroll School) tied her career high with 14 points, while Amanda Olsen (Glen Mills, PA/Archmere Academy) added 12 points, and Julia Bender (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) finished with 11 rebounds.

"We were fortunate to walk away with a win tonight," said RIT head coach Amy Reed. "I thought Rensselaer out-played us in the second half. We have to start putting a full 40 minutes together."

Sam Krumbhaar led Rensselaer with 26 points, while LaKissa Martin added 10 points for the Engineers, who shot 45.6 percent from the floor.

Rensselaer led throughout much of the first quarter, by as many as five points on two separate occassions. RIT came back in the latter stages of the quarter, out scoring the Engineers 11-3 over the final 4:05, taking a 17-15 lead on an old fashioned 3-point play by Glaz with 15 seconds to play.

The Tigers built their lead to 10 points in the second quarter, out scoring RPI 8-2 to open play. Cori Okada (Fullerton, CA/Troy) gave RIT its largest lead of the game to that point on her free throw with 4:36 to play in the half. A Tara Lynch (Green Township, NJ/Newton) layup with 2:51 to play gave RIT its largest lead of the game at 34-19. Krumbhaar scored a late layup for the Engineers, making it 36-25 RIT at the half.

RIT shot 57.7 percent in the first half on 15-of-26 shooting. Lynch and Olsen led the Tigers with seven first-half points each.

Rensselaer pulled to within three points at the 4:43 mark of the third quarter on a layup by Bailei Tetrault, capping off a 12-4 run by the Engineers to open the second half. Bender answered with a layup with 4:19 to play in the quarter, extending the Tigers lead to 42-37.

Martin made a pair of free throws with 1:29 to play, cutting the RIT to three points again, but the Tigers closed the quarter with a quick 7-0 burst to take a 50-41 lead into the final stanza.

Kate Goodell cut the RIT lead to 54-51 with 4:25 to play in the fourth quarter off an assist from Ellen Boucher. RIT's lead hovered around five points down the stretch thanks to some timely free throw shooting by the Tigers. Olsen made a pair inside the last two minutes, while Glaz wrapped up the win for the Tigers with a pair of clutch free throws with seven seconds to play, making it a 68-64 final.

RIT held a 43-37 rebounding edge, including 20 offensive rebounds. The Tigers scored 28 points in the paint, and 24 points off of 26 Rensselaer turnovers.

RIT will host Skidmore College on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. in the floor of Clark Gymnasium. A win would equal the school record for victories in a season.