TROY, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State women's basketball team dropped their opening game of the season at RPI on the road falling 57-48 in Friday night action. The Cardinals had two players register double-doubles in the loss in senior guard Payton Couture (Redford, N.Y. / Saranac) and junior center Imani Walcott (Albany, N.Y. / Albany).

Couture led the Cardinals offense with 19 points while also grabbing 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Walcott also had strong a contribution on the offensive end with 16 points to go with a team-high 11 rebounds for her first double-double on the season as well. Walcott led the team with a career-high four steals while sophomore guard Julia Greek (Long Island, N.Y. / Ward Melville) had a career-high three steals to go with seven points and six rebounds. Jaden Wilson (Johnstown, N.Y. / Johnstown) also had a solid night with six points and six rebounds.

For the Engineers, Callie Flynn led the team in points with 13 and rebounds with eight. Siena Smith and Amanda Gallagher both were in double figures with 11 and 10 respectively.

The Cardinals were strong on the board picking up 47 rebounds compared to the Engineers 40, but the Engineers had a better shooting night going a solid 34.4% from the field while the Cardinals only shot 29.5%. It was a high turnover night as the Engineers forced 26 Cardinal turnovers while registering  15 steals and the Cardinals forced 22 turnovers from the Engineers and had 10 steals.

Plattsburgh State falls to 0-1 with the loss and are back in action at home next Friday, Nov. 15 as they open up the Cardinal Classic against Vermont State University (VTSU) Castleton at 5:30 p.m. RPI rises to 1-0 and are back in action tomorrow, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. as they host Potsdam for a 2 p.m. tip-off.

The Cardinals started the first quarter strong opening up with a 9-1 run capped off by a Greek three at the 6:59 mark. A jumper from Couture extended the Cardinals lead to 10 at the 5:42 mark before a layup from Smith made the score 13-5. A five-point swing from the Engineers made the score 15-10 Cardinals with less than four minutes remaining in the quarter. The Cardinals finished the first strong as Walcott closed the quarter with four points and gave the Cardinals a 21-12 lead going into the second.

The Engineers started the scoring in the second with a made free throw from Rowe at the 9:49 mark. The Cardinals didn't get their first points until the 8:28 mark when Walcott put back an offensive rebound and made the score 23-13 Cardinals. The Engineers closed out the quarter on a 11-0 run powered by four points from Callie Flynn and took a 32-29 lead into halftime.

The third quarter started with seven straight points from the Engineers as they extended their lead to 10. A jumper from Greek and two free throws from Couture ended the run and made the score 39-33 Engineers at the 5:04 mark. Another run fromm the Engineers added on to their lead and made the score 45-33 Engineers with less than two minutes remaining. Couture closed out the third quarter with two free throws and made the score 46-36 Engineers going into the fourth.

The first basket of the fourth quarter didn't come until the 8:21 mark when Sophie Castello made a layup followed by another layup for the Engineers that made the score 50-36. Back-to-back jumpers from Couture and Walcott and then Couture again cut the lead to single digits but five straight points from the Engineers put them back ahead 55-42. The Cardinals continued to battle back scoring six straight points that made the score 55-48 with less than a minute remaining and ultimately fell 57-48.