TROY, N.Y. –  The Skidmore College women's basketball team shrugged off a slow start and held off a comeback effort from host RPI, defeating the Engineers by a 55-47 score in Liberty League action inside of the East Campus Arena Friday evening.
 
Skidmore (3-8, 2-2 Liberty League) moves back up to .500 in the Liberty League race early on, while RPI (6-4, 1-2 Liberty League) drops its first game of the new year.
 
The Thoroughbreds got production from three double-digit scorers. Junior guard Jessica Centore led the team with 13 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field. She added nine rebounds and four assists. Senior guard Haley English tallied her first career points-rebounds double-double, scoring 10 points and adding 10 rebounds. Senior forward Taylor Ong added 10 points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots. The Thoroughbreds shot 36.4 percent from the field and 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from beyond the arc.
 
LaKissa Martin and Elizabeth Eckhardt paced the Engineers with 12 points apiece. Martin tallied a double-double with 10 rebounds. Skidmore held RPI to just 31.3 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent (3-for-12) from the 3-point line.
 
The Thoroughbreds got off to a slow start as the Engineers jumped out to a 14-5 lead. Things turned dramatically for Skidmore in the second, as they began the period with an 8-1 spurt. Consecutive Centore jumpers brought the deficit to within one at 18-17, and after a made RPI free throw, English would give Skidmore its first lead at 20-19 with 3:34 to go. Sophomore guard Caroline Merguerian extended the lead to four a minute later with another trey, before RPI bounced back to tie the game at 25 at the half after a last-second layup by Ines Ortega.
 
Skidmore would immediately take the lead after a Tsutsui free throw on the first possession of the second half. They would slowly add to the lead, eventually leading by as many as seven (36-29) after a 3-pointer by freshman guard Kate McCarney. The Engineers chipped away at the deficit between the third and fourth quarters, eventually taking a two-point lead (38-36) at the 9:10 mark of the fourth quarter. Consecutive buckets by Ong and Centore would give Skidmore its final lead at 40-38, the beginnings of an 8-0 run which pushed the lead to six. Solid defensive play down the stretch held off a late RPI comeback as Skidmore pulled off the league victory.
 
The Thoroughbreds will wrap the weekend with a trip to Union on Saturday, a 2 p.m. start.