ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 61-60, on Friday evening to improve to 13-2 on the season. The Bombers started out slowly as they trailed for the majority of the first quarter but chipped away and used a
Hannah Polce floater that was converted with three seconds left in the game to earn the pivotal Liberty League victory.
It was a tough first quarter for Ithaca as the Engineers came out with a 7-2 run in the first three minutes of the game. Two consecutive layups from
Anya Watkins got the Bombers on the board, but RPI stretched its lead to 18–11 by the end of the quarter.
The Bombers cut into the RPI using a big second quarter run as they put up nine points to RPI's two to close out the period. The teams were trading points throughout most of the second quarter, but a big
June Dickson trey put the bombers up five with four minutes left in the half.
Elizabeth Majka and
Tori Drevna added in two layups with nine seconds left in the half, but Nicole Dapra converted a buzzer beating layup of her own to make the score 31-30 in favor of the Bombers going into the halftime break.
Coming out of halftime, it was a fantastic battle between the two sides with a nailbiter of a game.
June Dickson took over in the third quarter, netting 10 of the 18 points scored for the Bombers in the third. Ahnalese Pearson was hot from the three as she had answers to each IC basket and put her team up 47-46 with 2:25 left in the quarter. Baskets were hard to come by down the stretch but a last-minute bucket from
Anya Watkins beat the buzzer and she made it an and-one making it a two point lead for IC heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter had four ties and four lead changes throughout its ten minutes. The back-and-forth continued for the rest of the game. RPI tied the game with five minutes left (53-53), but
Annabella Yorio made a big layup to put the team up two. Nicole DaPra hit a big three late in the game with three minutes to go making the score 58-55 in favor of the Engineers.
June Dickson had a strong fast break layup to put the Bombers up by one with just under two minutes left in the game. Back-to-back turnovers for the Bombers put the ball back in the Engineers hands with a fast break layup made by Siena Smith making the score 60-59 RPI, with :24 seconds on the clock.
Hannah Polce took her girl to the hoop and hit a big floating jumper putting her team up 61-60 with three seconds left to play. RPI was unable to convert in the last three seconds of the game, giving the Bombers their ninth win in a row.
Dickson led the way for the Bombers with 23 points, Watkins chipped in a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Ithaca had a low shooting night, only knocking down 37.5% from the field, compared to RPI's 51% from the field.
Ithaca College earned their ninth consecutive win, making their overall record 13-2, and going 7-1 in the Liberty League conference. The Bombers will be back in action tomorrow where they face Skidmore College at 2 p.m. in Ben Light Gymnasium.
