SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Skidmore College women's basketball team saw a sweet victory in their first overtime game of the season. They defeated RIT by a 70-64 score, jumping into first place in the Liberty League standings in front of a packed Big Green Scream crowd at Williamson Sports Center Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, Skidmore (14-9, 12-4 Liberty League) sits in a three-way tie with RIT and Ithaca for first place, with just two games to go in the regular season. Skidmore currently holds the tie breaker due to a season sweep of Ithaca earlier in the season. It's the eighth win out of the last nine games for the Thoroughbreds. RIT (18-5, 12-4 Liberty League), receiving votes in the latest d3hoops.com and WBCA rankings, completes the weekend with a split after a victory at Vassar on Friday.
 
Senior Veronia Moceri lead the way with 24 points, two assists, three rebounds and four steals. Kelly Donnelly added 17 points and 13 rebounds, adding a steal and a blocked shot for her ninth double-double of the season. Caite Opfer contributed nine points, 2 assists, a career high 12 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals.
 
Tara Lynch led the Tigers with 20 points and five rebounds. Cori Okada added 16 points and five rebounds.
 
Before the contest, Skidmore honored its four seniors: guards Ari Fustini and Moceri, and forwards Donnelly and Opfer.
 
The seniors stepped up in a big way for the Thoroughbreds down the stretch. During the 4^th quarter, the seniors scored 14 of the team's 17 points, including the final 12 points to rally back to force overtime. With 1:50 to go in regulation, Moceri made a step-back three to tie the game at 48. After both teams scored, Moceri nailed another big shot, hitting a 3-pointer to put the Thoroughrbeds ahead by three, 53-50, with 21 seconds left. RIT got one more opportunity to tie the game and converted, as Jessica Glaz got fouled from beyond the arc, making all three free throws to bring the game into overtime. During the extra session, the seniors came up big and scored all 17 points, pulling away for the victory. Skidmore led the whole way in the extra session.
 
The first quarter featured three great offensive positions for the Thoroughbreds down the stretch. Fustini fed Donnelly with a step-back trey to take a 12-8 lead. Skidmore would convert on its next possession, getting a layup from Opfer, with the Thoroughbreds taking a 15-10 lead into the second quarter.
 
From there, the rest of the half was a tight one, with no more than four points separating each team. In the final minute, Donnelly hit another step back jumper with 37 seconds left, as Skidmore trailed RIT by a 26-24 score.  The Tigers brought down the ball, missing a layup thanks to a monstrous Opfer block. Haley English took it down and drove down the lane for a buzzer beating runner, tying things up at 26.
 RIT pulled ahead in the third, but Skidmore kept itself in striking position with solid play on both ends of the court. Lilly Berg split a pair of free throws to bring the Skidmore deficit to one, 37-36, entering an exciting fourth quarter.
 
Skidmore shot 36.4 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range in the contest, holding a strong shooting RIT squad to just 34 percent shooting from the field and 23 percent from beyond the arc.
 
The Thoroughbreds wrap up the regular season, looking for its second straight league regular season title, at Clarkson on Friday at 6 p.m. and St. Lawrence on Saturday at 2 p.m.