Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 19, 2008) -- The Vassar College women's basketball team brought a strong defensive effort and all-around scoring mentality into its game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Tuesday night at the Athletics & Fitness Center, but lost a close game, 59-50. RPI, with a balanced scoring effort, had three players score in double digits to secure the win.

With the loss, Vassar falls to 4-16 overall and 0-12 in conference. The Brewers will host St. Lawrence this Friday evening at 6:00 pm and Clarkson for its senior day at 2:00 pm on Saturday. RPI, still fighting to earn a berth in the League playoffs, is now at .500 with records of 11-11 and 6-6. The Red Hawks will play Clarkson on Friday and St. Lawrence on Saturday, both at home, to close out the regular season.

RPI opened the game shooting hot from the field and built up a lead that swelled to 16 points just ten minutes into the first half, 22-6. With Vassar forward Emily Haeuser (South Portland, ME/South Portland) in foul trouble early in the game, the Red Hawks made the most of their height advantage and forced the ball inside to the strong post duo of junior Elizabeth Barker (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) and senior Tory Lyons (Feeding Hills, MA/Agawam).

However, the Brewers responded with a scoring run of their own to cut the lead down to 10 a number of times in the first half. Despite playing out of position as a post throughout the game, senior guard Elise Okusami (Olney, MD/Georgetown Day) was instrumental in keeping the Vassar offense alive. Okusami scored 9 first-half points and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Her 3-pointer with 35 ticks to go in the first half cut the RPI lead to 10 once again, 33-23.

It was in the second half that the Brewers really chipped away at the RPI lead, which swelled to 15 when senior guard Missy Jackman (Danvers, MA/Danvers) connected on a three-ball with under 14 minutes to play in the game to make the score 45-30. Vassar responded with an 11-1 offensive burst, which came to an end when sophomore Ashley Sherman (Hewlett Harbor, NY/Lynbrook) made a 3-pointer to bring her team within 5 points. Sherman's basket brought the score to 46-41 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, but Vassar would not score for the next four minutes and RPI was able to hold the Brewers off and secure the win.

RPI connected on six straight free throw attempts in the final two minutes, despite shooting just 3 for 8 from the charity stripe prior to that in the game. Jackman turned in a solid two halves of play for the Red Hawks, scoring a team-high 14 points and pulling down 9 rebounds. Barker and Lyons each added 12 points and 8 and 6 rebounds, respectively.

For the Brewers, Okusami finished with a game-high 15 points. Her fellow senior and starting point guard, Chelsea Katzenberg (Middlesex, VT/U-32) played the entire 40 minutes and finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Haeuser finished with 8 points and 10 boards.