Fourth Quarter Comeback Lifts Vassar Past RPI

By Amie Canfield

POUGHKEEPSIE – A fourth-quarter comeback behind, powered by a nine-point effort by junior Alex Lee, helped lift the Vassar women’s basketball team to a 58-53 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Brewers move to 14-6 overall and are now 13-1 in league play. The Engineers slip to 3-15 overall and are now 2-11 in the Liberty League.

Vassar found itself down by an 11-point (50-39) margin heading into the final quarter of action, but began to pull it back to open the fourth. Junior captain Eliza Srinivasan got things going at the 8:27 mark, dropping in a three-pointer off a feed from senior captain Dani Douglas, for the 50-42 margin. Consecutive three’s from Lee, along with a free thow make by senior captain Sarah Gillooly, turned it into a one-point (50-49) game in RPI’s favor with 6:39 remaining. Lee added a layup at 5:26 to cap a 12-0 run for the Brewers and the first lead of the game, but RPI responded on the next possession as junior Ashlyn O’Neil hit a jumper to regain the one-point (52-51) lead.

Another shot from downtown – this time from rookie Tova Gelb – pushed the margin back into the home team’s favor (54-52) and the Brewers took advantage at the free throw line over the final 1:47 as Lee, Gillooly and Gelb all dropped in shots from the charity stripe to open a six-point (58-52) margin. Junior Heather Converse converted a shot from the free throw line with eight seconds to play, but a late jumper from junior Lolo Reynolds missed the mark in the final seconds to try and pull the visitors even.

Lee led all game players for the second straight game, dropping in 15 points and three boards with an assist and a steal. Douglas added 14 points with three boards and three assists, while Gillooly also had 14 points, four boards and two assists. Srinivasan had three points, five boards and a game-best three steals with a block, while Gelb added seven points, a team-high six boards, one assist, two blocks and two steals.

The Engineers were paced by Reynolds, who had 12 points and four boards with two assist. O’Neil also had 12 points with five rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Converse completed the double-double with 11 points and 19 rebounds to go along with an assist, a steal and a block.

Vassar returns to the court this Friday when it hosts Rochester Institute of Technology at 5:30pm in the AFC Gym.