The Rensselaer women’s basketball team finished second in the New York University Basketball Tournament after destroying Cazenovia in the tournament opener 69-46 on November 21 and then losing a close battle 88-82 to New York University on November 22.
The tournament marked the beginning of what looks to be another successful season for the Red Hawks.
Against Cazenovia, Rensselaer showed that they can dominate many teams at the Division-III level.
The Red Hawks jumped out to an early 22-3 lead and never let up on the intensity. Despite several valiant efforts by Cazenovia to get back into the game, they were simply overmatched by a superior RPI squad.
Kristen Kaczynski led the way on both sides of the floor for the Red Hawks scoring 21 points on 9-12 shooting and snatching steals. Caitlin Vestal also had an excellent performance posting a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds for Rensselaer.
However, everything was not perfect in the Red Hawks opener. Rensselaer shot just under 60 percent from the free-throw line and committed 26 turnovers while only dishing out 13 assists.
These breakdowns, along with an enhancement in the talent of the opponent were the major factors that attributed to Rensselaer’s loss to NYU in the championship game.
Kaczynski scored 21 points in her second straight game and added nine rebounds and three assists en route to a selection to the All-Tournament Team.
Later in the week Kaczynski was honored by receiving the first UCAA Guard of the Week award due to her two marvelous showings. Both Rensselaer and Head Coach John Greene will need Kaczynski to continue to produce at this level in order for the Red Hawks to reach tall, but reachable, goals the team set for itself at the beginning of the season.
Rensselaer will truly discover how good of a team they are later in their pre-conference schedule when they travel to West Palm Beach, Florida in mid-December to participate in one of the most respected tournaments in D-III women’s basketball.
