Luck was on the women’s basketball team’s side this weekend as it advanced to the first round of Liberty League playoffs despite losing to St. Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon and finishing 7-7 in the league. The Red Hawks can thank Hamilton College for beating Union College, and William Smith College for taking down Skidmore College. On Friday RPI travels to Geneva, N.Y., to take on top-seeded William Smith at 8 pm, while third seed Hamilton tries to upset second seed St. Lawrence at 6 pm.

RPI split its final regular season weekend with a huge 58-35 win over Clarkson University Friday night and a 50-63 loss the next afternoon to the Saints.

On Friday, the Red Hawks were led by junior forward Elizabeth Barker who had a game-high of 19 points. With the victory, the team improved to 12-11 overall, 7-6 in the league. The tough loss dropped Clarkson to 3-21 overall, and 1-12 in conference play.

With a strong start, Rensselaer quickly gained a 6-0 lead and played solid defense holding the Golden Knights to just 12 percent from the field in the first half. As they headed to the lockers for the break, RPI was up 17 points, 25-8.

The second half was more of the same as Clarkson never came within 18 points. Barker finished the game with nine rebounds, two assists, a block, and three steals. Senior Missy Jackman finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Senior Tory Lyons and junior Caitlyn Charest each added eight points apiece.

Saturday’s game was senior night and recognized the four seniors: Jackman, Lyons, Brittney O’Neal, and Sarah Briggs. St. Lawrence jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead and was up by 18 points (28-10) with 7:17 remaining in the first half. RPI did make a 13-5 run just before the break to cut their deficit to 10 (22-23). The Red Hawks carried their momentum after the half and scored eight of the first nine points to bring them within three points at 34-31. The Saints, however, called a timeout and pulled ahead to 47-34 off a 13-3 run. St. Lawrence never gave up their lead using the free-throw line to their advantage as they shot 90.9 percent in the second half.

O’Neal led RPI with 14 points, six rebounds and a steal. Barker had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Red Hawks finished .500 in the regular season, going 12-12 overall, 7-7 in the league.