ITHACA, N.Y. -- The women's basketball team (7-8, 4-1 Empire 8) won for the fifth time in six games, holding off visiting RIT (8-7, 2-2 Empire 8) for a 53-52 win Saturday. The Tigers scored 11 of the game's last 13 points, but two free throws by freshman guard Katherine Bixby (Germantown Friends/Philadelphia, Pa.) with 11 seconds left sealed the win, which put the Bombers in first place in the Empire 8 standings.

Ithaca used a 12-5 run to take a 51-41 lead with 4:47 left before RIT's rally. The Tigers pulled to within 51-50 with 16 seconds left and sent Bixby to the line. Bixby, a 79.3 free-throw shooter coming into the game gave the Bombers a three-point lead. The Tigers missed a three-point basket with four seconds left that would have tied the game; after collecting the rebound they scored a lay-up with 0.7 seconds remaining but Ithaca inbounded the ball for the win.

Junior center Erika Steele (Hopkinton/Hopkinton, Mass.) led Ithaca with 13 points and career-best totals of 12 rebounds and five blocks. Bixby scored 12 points and senior guard Sue Kelly (Bethlehem/Delmar) added 10 points and four steals.

Ithaca travels to Alfred Friday for a 6 p.m. game.

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