SCHENECTADY, NY – Lauren Sischo (Rodman, NY) scored 14 points and Katie Palmer (Bourne, MA) added 12 with team highs of six rebounds and five assists to lead #2 seed St. Lawrence to a 54-49 victory over #3 RPI in a Liberty League Women’s Basketball Championship Semifinal Game at Union College’s Viniar Athletic Center Friday night. Both teams now have identical 18-7 records. With the victory, the Saints return to the title game for the fifth straight season and look to defend their title against host Union, which downed Skidmore, 61-51 in the other semifinal later in the night.
Brittany Parham (Fort Drum, NY) scored 11 points for St. Lawrence, which won last year’s title at William Smith. The Saints shot 34% for the game but forced 27 turnovers and held the Red Hawks to 35% shooting for the night. RPI outrebounded St. Lawrence, 49-28.
RPI was led by Whitney Coleman (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), who had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sarah Wetmore (Sudbury, MA), this season’s Liberty League Co-Rookie of the Year, scored 10 points with six rebounds and Elizabeth Barker (Suffield, CT) also had 10 boards to go along with eight points. RPI made 11 of 12 free throws (92%) for the game.
St. Lawrence took a 26-25 lead into the half. Coleman hit a jumper to open the half, giving RPI a one point advantage 39 seconds into the period. But the Saints went on a 12-0 run in the next 4:39 for a 38-27 lead, the largest lead of the night for the Saints. St. Lawrence led by six at 49-43 with 3:11 left, but RPI got to within two at 2:15, and again with 1:37 left on a jumper by Wetmore. Sischo buried two free throws with one minute left for a four point lead at 53-49. RPI fouled again with 34 seconds left and after a missed free throw, Abby Stanton (Avon, NY) made the second for the five point lead with 20 seconds left to close out the victory.
The Saints had defeated RPI last Saturday, 79-72 at home in overtime. In the three meetings between the two teams, St. Lawrence won two but each of the games was decided by six points or less. St. Lawrence has now won six of the last seven.
Tournament Web Page and Box Score
