Box Score
ROCHESTER, NY (January 25, 2013) – The backcourt of junior Cydni Matsuoka and freshman Caitlin Drakeley combined for 29 points and the Vassar women's basketball team went on a 23-10 run over the final 11:48 of the first half to earn a 70-51 Liberty League victory over Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday evening at Clark Gym.
With 13:16 to play in the first half, the Brewers trailed 16-13. After consecutive baskets by Matsuoka and senior forward Natalie Allen, Vassar would never play from behind again. The 23-10 spurt, keyed by six points from junior forward Hannah Senftleber, five from Drakeley and four from sophomore guard Delaney Fischer, enabled the Brewers to ease into halftime with a 36-26 lead.
The Brewers closed out the game within the first four minutes of the second half, getting four straight points from sophomore guard Nyah Berg, and consecutive baskets from Senftleber, Matsuoka and O'Connell to build a 49-30 lead.
With the victory, the Brewers improve to 13-3, 5-2 in the Liberty League. RIT drops to 4-11, 1-6. On Saturday, Vassar travels to William Smith for a 2:00 p.m. game. RIT hosts Bard on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
Throughout the game, Vassar kept both the offensive and defensive pressure on the Tigers. The Brewers converted 25 RIT turnovers into 22 points and held a commanding 32-14 advantage in points in the paint. Vassar also harassed RIT into a 25 percent shooting effort from the floor, the lowest the Brewers have allowed this season.
Early in the second half, back-to-back baskets from freshman Rose Serafini, who tallied a career high 8 points, pushed Vassar's lead to 53-32 with still a large chunk of the game – more than 14 minutes – remaining.
The Tigers didn't go away easily, however, and over the next 6:52 went on an 11-0 run to come within 53-43 with 6:53 remaining. RIT senior guard Leslie Havens, junior center Courtney Tennant and junior guard Jess Kramer all contributed in that run. Tennant led the Tigers with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Matsuoka then extinguished RIT's fire by scoring Vassar's next seven points for a 15-point Brewer margin. Allen, Serafini and Drakeley added game-clinching baskets down the stretch.
Matsuoka's 17 points came on 7 of 11 shooting from the field and 3 of 4 from behind the arc. In her last two games, Matsuoka has shot 73 percent from the field (17 of 22) and 82 percent from 3-point range (9 of 11).