RPI Women Score With 0.1 Left to Beat Ithaca

ITHACA, N.Y. - Senior Celia Tomlinson collected an inbounds pass while cutting to the basket and laid in the game-winning shot with 0.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team a 56-54 victory over Ithaca College. The win moves RPI (12-5; 8-2) into first place in the Liberty League, while the Bombers (10-5; 7-2) slip to third.

After Rensselaer senior Sam Krumbhaar tied the game at 54-54 with a jumper with 47 seconds remaining, Ithaca called a timeout and made substitutions. The Bombers had two shots that were off the mark before getting another offensive rebound and the ball out of bounds under the basket with 16 seconds to play. Senior Cassidy O'Malley's shot from close range was missed and Krumbhaar pulled down the rebound.

After a timeout by RPI moved the ball to mid-court with six seconds to play, Krumbhaar was fouled at the baseline, resulting in an out-of-bounds play under the basket with 1.8 left on the clock. Rensselaer took a :30 second timeout to set up a play in which sophomore Brielle Sharry fed Tomlinson, who drove down from the top of the key, collected the pass on the right side of the basket and banked in a layup with less than a second remaining.

Tomlinson, a forward, finished with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for the Engineers, who trailed by a point (40-39) heading into the fourth quarter. Krumbhaar led all scorers with 18 points, while also registering three rebounds, three assists and seven steals. Ines Ortea also reached doubled digits with 12 points.

Ithaca was paced by KellyAnne O'Reilly's 16 points, which included four three-pointers. Grace Cannon had 13 points and O'Malley scored 10 points with a team-high nine rebounds. The Bombers were held to 33.3 percent (23 of 69) shooting by the Engineers.

Rensselaer is back on the road for a pair of conference games next weekend, beginning on Friday at Skidmore College (5:30pm). Ithaca hosts Hamilton College in a non-league game on Tuesday night (7pm).