SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Skidmore College sophomore guard Kelly Donnelly fired in career-high 33 points to go along with 15 rebounds to lead the Thoroughbreds to a 77-66 Liberty League win over Rensselaer, Saturday afternoon at the Williamson Center.
 
The Thoroughbreds jump to 10-7 overall and 5-4 in Liberty play. The Engineers have lost five straight to fall to 5-11 and 1-6.
 
RPI didn't have an answer for Donnelly, who was 12-17 (.705) from the floor and went 9-12 (.750) from the line to go along with two assists and a pair of steals. Haley English added 13 points and four assists, while Ari Fustini scored 10 points.
 
Ashley Clough scored 15 points off the bench to lead the Engineers. Sam Krumphaar chipped in 13 points and Elizabeth Eckhardt scored 11.
 
The game was close through the first three quarters as neither team led by more than a point at the end of the first, second or third frames. Skidmore took control in the fourth, however, outscoring the Engineers, 27-17. They scored 12 of the first 14 points - 10 coming from Donnelly - in the first 6:30 for a 63-51 lead.
 
Clough hit a pair of three-pointers around a Maya Bell free throw to pull the Engineers to within seven points, 64-57, 1:10 later, but Bell made two more free throws for a nine-point lead (66-57) with 2:02 to play.
 
Skidmore made its free throws down the stretch to hold on to the victory. Amber Holgate connected on three from the charity stripe, Donnelly hit two free throws and Haley English had four that went in
 
Skidmore will hit the road for its next five games, beginning with William Smith on Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. Rensselaer is at RIT for a 6 p.m. tip on Jan. 29.

COACH BENNETT:
Today was great for our team, a real confidence pill. After battling back last night we stayed the course today and played great for ourselves and our home fans. RPI is a team chalk full of scorers and shooters at every position. They can shoot the three, take it to the rim and have multiple scoring options in the paint. We beat a really good team today and we did it as a team. I'm very happy for our team and proud of ever single player individually and collectively.

We created a hill we have to climb because of our start but if we play as a unit the way we did this weekend I see great things in store for us.

Again our depth stepped up and kept the pressure on making every substitution wear on them a little more at a time. Our goal is to wear our opponent down into making mistakes and missing shots as the game goes on and I think it's working, our kids have bought in and we are seeing some results.

We have some things we definitely need to sharpen up and work on, some real key factors to truly successful teams. But if we keep moving in the direction we did this weekend I think we will like the results of our young teams journey.