The Rensselaer women’s basketball team went .500 in this weekend’s UCAA road trip, destroying Clarkson 69-43 on Friday and then getting demolished themselves by St. Lawrence 62-40 on Saturday.
The easy victory over Clarkson extended the Red Hawks’ winning streak to six games.
RPI made no explosive run to distance themselves from the Golden Knights, but instead just slowly pounded away until the margin was in double digits, putting the game out of reach for Clarkson.
Rensselaer also had a substantial edge in the rebounding department, as they out-rebounded Clarkson 54-33.
Five players scored in double figures for the Red Hawks, led by Kristin Kaczynski’s 17. Kaczynski also had 12 rebounds, giving her a double-double in the contest.
Caitlin Vestal and Kaitlyn Saunders each added 12 for Rensselaer while Kelly Choppy and Jacqueline Ferrari had 10 points apiece.
One stat that was a thorn in the sides of the Red Hawks was turnovers. Rensselaer lost the ball 27 times without a shot attempt. Turnovers have hurt Rensselaer all season, and they would again in the St. Lawrence game.
In Saturday’s loss to St. Lawrence, Rensselaer again committed an excessive amount of turnovers—24—leaving them with an awful assist to turnover ratio of 1:8.
However, taking poor care of the ball was not the only stat that was to blame for Rensselaer’s unsightly loss. Field goal shooting was a huge factor, especially in the first half.
The Red Hawks shot just 23 percent for the game, including a horrendous 2-22, or 9 percent, from the field in the first half.
On the other hand, the Saints shot better than 50 percent in the first half and an outstanding 44 percent for the game, making it nearly impossible for Rensselaer to even stay within striking distance.
With all due respect to St. Lawrence, their defense forced Rensselaer to take a lot of bad shots and make some poor decisions.
Saunders led the Red Hawks with 12 points in the loss, which ended the Red Hawks’ six game winning streak.
Despite the loss, RPI still has an excellent 11-3 record overall and is 4-1 in the UCAA.
Rensselaer will be on the road again next week as they travel to face Union on January 30 and Skidmore on January 31.
