Box Score

TROY, NY (February 17, 2009) – Despite a combined 34 points from the freshman duo of Kristyn Tempora (Marlboro, NJ/St. John Vianney) and Brittany Parks (Escondido, CA/Escondido), the Vassar College women's basketball team was unable to overcome the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) senior combination of Whitney Coleman (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/Etiwanda) and Caitlyn Charest (Swansea, MA/LaSalle Academy) which accounted for 41 points, as RPI picked up an 83-56 win at the Robison Gym on Tuesday evening.

The Brewers failed to snap an eight-game losing skid, falling to 3-20, 0-12 in the Liberty League. Vassar will look to notch its first Liberty League win on the road this weekend, playing at St. Lawrence University on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Clarkson University on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in its final game of the year. With the victory, the Red Hawks extend their winning streak to four games, and are now 17-5 and 9-3 in the league. RPI also faces Clarkson and St. Lawrence on the road this weekend.

For Vassar, Parks posted 18 points, including 5 of 5 from the free throw line, while Tempora added 16 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Also contributing was junior Emily Haeuser (South Portland, ME/South Portland), who had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Sarah Warner (Ipswich, MA/The Waring School) chipped in with a career high seven points.

Coleman led the Red Hawks with 27 points, and now needs just seven points to reach 1,000 career points. Charest added 14 points, including 4 for 6 from beyond the arc, while six other players added four or more points.

After a slow start by both teams, Vassar jumped out to a 7-2 lead on a three and two buckets by Parks who led all first half scorers with 14 points.

Back-to-back trips to the free throw line helped edge the Red Hawks back into things as they grabbed their first lead of the contest on a bucket by freshman Laura Easterling (Ventura, CA/Ventura). RPI secured the lead for the remainder of the half at the 10:17 mark as senior Elizabeth Barker (Suffield, CT/Cathedral) drained a pair of free throws to make it 13-11.

Holding a five-point advantage with 7:06 remaining, Rensselaer went on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes to extend its lead to 32-15.

Warner dropped in five straight points with under a minute remaining and Parks sank a pair of free throws, but Vassar could not cut the deficit further before halftime.

The second half saw Rensselaer extend its lead to 41-29 just a minute and a half in. Consecutive jumpers by Vassar's Parks and Warner helped cut the lead to 41-33, but the homestanding Red Hawks continued to surge. RPI went on an 18-0 run over the next five minutes for a commanding 59-33 lead with 11:00 left on the clock.

Despite 11 points from Tempora over the final eight minutes, the Brewers were unable to contain RPI's offense, which shot 48.6% from the field in the second half and 42.9% for the game.