ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT took advantage of a strong first quarter, as the Skidmore College women's basketball team fell, 76-61, in Liberty League action at Clark Gymnasium Friday evening.
Skidmore (6-7, 4-2 Liberty League) drops its second straight league game after a strong 4-0 start, and now sits in a four-way tie for second place in the Liberty League standings. RIT (12-1, 6-0 Liberty League), the lone unbeaten team in league play, remains that way after six contests.
A 21-7 advantage in the first quarter gave RIT a lead it would not relinquish, despite strong shooting from the Thoroughbreds in the second half. The Thoroughbreds would shoot 41.7 percent from the field in the game and 51.6 percent after halftime.
Kelly Donnelly led the Thoroughbreds in scoring with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Taylor Ong tallied 11 points off the bench, while
Veronica Moceri added 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Jessica Glaz led the way for the Tigers with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Tara Lynch added 17 points and Cori Okada chipped in 10.
RIT used a 12-2 run midway through the first to build a 14-5 lead. A steal and a coast-to-coast layup by
Jessica Centore briefly broke the run at the 2:30 mark. RIT was able to tally the final seven points of the quarter to build the 14-point lead.
RIT was able to build a 21-point lead in the second quarter, at 39-18, but Skidmore scored the final five points of the second quarter in 1:39 as the hosts held a 39-23 lead.
Coming out of halftime, the Thoroughbreds mounted a comeback attempt, with consecutive buckets by Moceri and Donnelly reducing the Tiger lead to 11, at 45-34. RIT was able to hold Skidmore off to finish the third quarter, bringing the lead back up to 21, at 59-38.
The Thoroughbreds made another late run, getting it back down to 13 at 70-57 on an Ong 3-pointer, but RIT stemmed the tide to remain unbeaten in the conference. Skidmore outscored the Tigers in the final period by a 23-17 margin.
Skidmore wraps up the weekend in Geneva on Saturday, visiting William Smith at 2 p.m. RIT will host Vassar on Saturday, also at 2 p.m.
