ROCHESTER, NY – The defending Liberty League Champion RIT women's basketball team heads to Saratoga Springs this weekend to participate in the 2018 Liberty League Tournament. The No. 2 Tigers will take on No. 3 Ithaca College in the second semifinal on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 4:30 p.m. Top-seed Skidmore will host No. 4 seed Vassar in the first semifinal at 2 p.m. The semifinal winners will meet for the Liberty League Championship at 2 p.m. Sunday.
RIT enters the weekend 20-5 overall and is ranked second in the latest NCAA East Region rankings, the highest regional ranking in program history. RIT's 20 wins ties the program record for wins in a single season set in 2015-16.
The Tigers closed out the regular season 3-2 in their last five games, including wins over Union and Bard to close out the regular season last weekend. Senior
Jessica Glaz (Rockaway Beach, NY/Scholars Academy) set the program record for points in a game with 37 in a win over Bard in the regular season finale.
RIT enters Saturday the top scoring team in the Liberty League, averaging 71.9 points per game, and is tops in the league, shooting 43.0 percent as a team. The Tigers feature three players ranked in the top-10 in scoring in the Liberty League led by Glaz who averages 14.0 points per game.
Cori Okada (Fullerton, CA/Troy) is seventh in scoring (13.0), while
Tara Lynch (Green Township, NJ/Newton) is eighth (12.7).
Defensively, RIT is third in the conference, allowing 56.0 points per game, and third, allowing its opponents to shoot 34.7 percent from the floor. Senior
Sydney Frank (Haverford, PA/Friends' Central) is tied for third in the league, averaging 2.0 steals per game. Okada is seventh, averaging 1.7 steals.
Ithaca enter Saturday on a seven-game winning streak, including an 80-63 win over William Smith Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Meghan Pickell was among five Bombers to score in double figures finishing with 17 points. Cassidy O'Malley tallied 14 points and had eight rebounds.
The Bombers enter the weekend second in the league in scoring 70.5 points per game), and field goal percentage (41.5 percent). O'Malley leads the league in field goal percentage (49.3 percent), and is third in scoring (17.8 PPG). Annie Giannone is fifth in assists (3.0 APG).
Ithaca is seventh in the Liberty League allowing 59.8 points per game, and seventh allowing opponents to shoot 38.3 percent from the floor. O'Malley is second in the league, averaging 2.2 blocks per game. Julie Yacovani is sixth, averaging 7.8 rebounds per game.
RIT and Ithaca split the two regular season meetings this season, with each team winning on the other's home floor. Top-seeded Skidmore College will play Vassar College in the other semifinal, with the winners to play in the Liberty League Championship at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25.
The Tigers are 1-1 versus Skidmore and Vassar. RIT beat Vassar 58-54 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Feb. 9. Okada led the Tigers with 18 points, while Sophie Nick led Vassar with 13 points. The following day, RIT lost at Skidmore 70-64 in overtime. Lynch led RIT with 20 points, while Veronica Moceri led the Thoroughbreds with 24 points.
