Rochester, NY – Two muted quarters put the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team in separate holes at the start of each half as the Golden Knights suffered a 71-40 defeat against RIT on Friday evening.

The Golden Knights saw their record fall to 5-11 overall and 1-8 in Liberty League games while RIT edged above .500 at 8-7 and 6-2. Clarkson takes on William Smith College on Saturday.

The Golden Knights struggled offensively in the opening quarter, making just two of their 15 attempts from the field, while the Tigers shot 57.1% from the field (8-for-14) in the first 10 minutes. RIT scored the first eight points of the game before Cassidy Dumont was able to hit a 3-pointer at the 6:00 mark and Dumont had a layup at 4:41, but those were the only points of the quarter as the Knights found themselves down by 15 after the first quarter. Clarkson found its offense in the second, tripling up its point total. The Knights trimmed the margin to single digits on a 3-pointer by Fallon Griffin at 6:57 and pulled to within eight on two occasions. A four-minute scoreless drought allowed RIT to push its advantage back to double figures, but two late free throws saw the Knights get back to within 11 at the break.

Unfortunately for the Knights, much of that hard work to get back into the game was undone by the start of the third quarter. RIT opened with 12 points in less than five minutes and simultaneously held the Knights without a point as Clarkson shot 0-for-7 with a pair of turnovers in the stretch. Both teams went quiet for the rest of the quarter, though the Knights did get on the board with free throws from two different shooters. Clarkson's offense recovered in another even-numbered quarter, but the margin was too much to overcome in the final 10 minutes.

Fallon Griffin led the Knights with nine points, shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in 19 minutes of play. Raelin Burns chipped in eight points, Cassidy Dumont scored seven, and Bella Doyle posted seven rebounds.

For RIT, Ben Kayser-Cochran had a near double-double in 22 minutes with 14 points and eight boards. Hanna Durand was 5-for-9 from the floor for 13 points and Kaitlyn Bockelman added 11 points and six rebounds.