TROY, N.Y. - Senior Ines Ortea scored 20 points with eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's basketball team to an 84-78 victory over RIT in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The Engineers are now 10-6 in the conference and have clinched a place in the post-season tournament. They are 14-9 overall. The Tigers are 8-8 and 10-13 and remain in position to qualify for the playoffs.

On Senior Day, Ortea and classmates Sam Krumbhaar and Celia Tomlinson combined for 43 points, 18 rebounds, 15 assists, four steals and six blocked shots. Krumbhaar had 12 points with three rebounds and three assists, while Tomlinson had 11 points, seven rebounds, a game-high eight assists and three blocks. Junior Courtney Lewis added 15 points and four assists and sophomore Brielle Sharry scored 10 points. As a team, RPI connected on 48.5 percent of its shots, while holding the Tigers to 37.3 percent.

RIT was led by Kaleesha Joseph's double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds. Sabrina Wolfe led all scorers with 22 points, 13 of which came in the second half. She added five rebounds. Brooke Stanley finished with 15 points and Alyssa Juergens tallied 14.

The first half featured a series of runs by both teams. RIT scored the first four points and held an 8-7 lead with seven minutes to play in the opening quarter before the Engineers scored nine consecutive points for a 16-8 lead. Ortea had four for RPI in the sequence.

The visitors countered with a 16-point run over the next four minutes for a 24-16 lead at the end of the first. RIT's final six points came from a pair of three pointers, including one from Wolfe, which gave the senior 1,000 career points. Juergens had the other from well behind the arc at the top of the key as the buzzer sounded.

Rensselaer's Lewis broke its scoreless drought with a three of her own to open the second quarter and then answered an RIT basket to make it a 26-21 deficit. Three straight free throws from Tomlinson made it 26-24 and Heather Converse tied the game with a layup at the 6:08 mark. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes before Tomlinson scored on a layup, Ortes had consecutive baskets and Nicole DaPra hit from beyond the three point line for a 45-34 lead with under a minute to play. The Tigers closed the half on a 4-0 run to make it 45-38 at the half.

The Engineers made 53.1 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes, including 62.5 percent in the second quarter. Ortea had 12 first half points, along with six rebounds. The Tigers, who went 44.4 percent in the first and 25 percent in the second, were paced by Stanley's 10 points and five rebounds.

RIT cut into its deficit by outscoring RPI 21-17 in the third quarter to make it a 62-59 margin going into the fourth quarter. Ortea, Converse and Ortea baskets pushed Rensselaer's lead to nine points (68-59) two minutes into the fourth and the Engineers maintained a three possession lead until Wolfe hit a triple with 2:55 to play to make it 78-72. The Tigers got to within four points on two separate occasions but Krumbhaar closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.

RPI, which is in fourth place, travels to Clarkson University on Friday and St. Lawrence University on Saturday. Sixth place RIT returns to Rochester to finish the regular season at home next weekend, beginning with a game against Skidmore College.