Despite failing to make the Liberty League Tournament, the Rensselaer women’s basketball team was still selected as the fifth seed in the ECAC Tournament, the selection committee announced Monday morning. The Red Hawks, who missed the conference tournament due to a tiebreaker, earned the surprising fifth seed in the ECAC Tournament, and will take on the fourth seed Oneonta State in Oneonta, N.Y., on Wednesday night.
The Red Hawks have faced and beaten the Red Dragons each of the last two seasons in the ECAC Tournament. The winner of the game will play top seed St. John Fisher in the semi-finals on the Cardinals home court in Pittsford, N.Y., on Saturday at either noon or 2 pm. The tournament finals are slated to be held Sunday at St. John Fisher at a time yet to be determined.
The selection committee obviously overlooked the Red Hawks’ poor preseason record, in which RPI suffered losses to some of the country’s best teams. Rensselaer played drastically better once they entered league play, improving a 2-8 record to 12-12 and going 9-5 in the Liberty League. Conference rival Union was selected as the tournament’s third seed, but RPI cannot face the Dutchwomen until the championship game.
RPI’s entrance to the postseason will extend the career of senior forward Kaitlyn Saunders, who was named Liberty League Player of the Year for the second straight season. The Windsor, Conn., native is Rensselaer’s all-time leading scorer and leads the Red Hawks in virtually every statistical category. Saunders is currently 14th in the nation in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game and fourth in the country in steals, snagging 4.39 steals per contest.
Editor’s Note: Wrestling co-captain Kurt Munz contributed to this article.
