POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 10, 2018) – The Vassar College women's basketball team honored its three seniors Saturday afternoon with a gritty Liberty League victory in the Athletics & Fitness Center, knocking off visiting Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 55-50.
 
The Brewers honored seniors Ariella Rosenthal, Kim Romanoff and Samarah Cook in a pre-game ceremony and used that emotion into the first quarter as the Brewers (16-7, 11-5 Liberty) jumped out to a 15-7 lead just under six minutes into the game on a three-point play from sophomore Sophie Nick.
 
The Engineers (11-12, 7-9 Liberty) battled back into the contest and cut their deficit to one at 15-14 on a Courtney Lewis layup just before the end of the quarter. RPI took its first lead of the game at 19-17 after a Sam Krumbhaar three-pointer but VC regained its lead at 4:04 of the period on a Maddie Leong jumper. The hosts carried their lead into the halftime intermission, leading 26-24 at the break.
 
After halftime, the two teams battled to a 33-33 tie with 4:21 to play in the third quarter before the Brewers went on a 11-0 run highlighted by four points from Rosenthal to grab a 44-33 edge. The lead would have been 11 going into the fourth quarter, but RPI's Elizabeth Eckhardt banked in the half-court shot at buzzer to make the score 44-36.
 
In the fourth quarter, RPI rallied with a furious comeback to take the lead with 2:40 to go, finishing a 10-1 run on a layup by Shaina Iton to make the score 46-45. Junior Maeve Sussman pushed VC back on top with 1:10 to go on a jumped from the baseline off an assist from Nick, who made two free throws the next possession to give VC a 49-46 lead.
 
After RPI got two free throws from Sam O'Keefe, Vassar missed two free throws but Rosenthal slashed in for an offensive rebound and knocked down two following free throws to make it a three-point lead at 51-48. RPI again was fouled on its next possession, making two from the line, but after a timeout Sussman found a wide-open Cook streaking towards the rim to push the Brewers back up by three.
 
The Engineers called timeout and advanced the ball with 11 seconds to play, but Romanoff picked off the inbounds pass and set up a wide up Nick for the game-clinching lay-up with five seconds left to give the Brewers the win.
 
Nick was strong for the hosts all night, as the sophomore posted a game-high 22 points while also grabbing nine boards and shooting 8-of-13 from the floor. She also connected on all five of her free throws in 33 minutes.
The Brewers also got a double-double from Rosenthal in her final regular season game on the AFC floor of 10 points and 10 caroms, with Sussman posted 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. Cook added five points and two steals for Vassar, which shot 22-55 (40.0 percent) from the floor along with 8-of-11 shooting from the line.
 
RPI was paced by the 13 points each from Krumbhaar and Eckhardt, while Kate Goodell had a team-leading nine boards. With the win, Vassar pulled into fourth place, a half-game ahead of St. Lawrence University and a game behind Skidmore College, RIT and Ithaca College at 12-4 for the league lead.  
 
Vassar will now finish its regular season on the road, battling Ithaca College Friday evening at 6 p.m. in a Liberty League road showdown in the team's first trip to the new Liberty League school.
 
--VASSAR--