MEADVILLE, Pa. -- For the second day in a row, the Allegheny College women's basketball team suffered a close loss at the Women Leaders Tip-Off Tournament, as the Gators fell to Rochester Institute of Technology on Sunday, 62-60.

Trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half, the Gators (0-2) set the stage for a dramatic comeback attempt against the Tigers (1-1). Allegheny scored 24 points in the fourth quarter – the most by either team in any quarter – and came within a point of RIT's lead in the closing seconds. 

Trailing 59-56 with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Allegheny fouled RIT's Sydney Pearson to preserve as much time as possible. Pearson missed her first foul shot, but buried the second to widen the gap to four points. The Gators missed a 3-pointer and a second-chance shot on the other end of the floor, but Pearson was tagged with a foul that sent Kate Leach (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) to the line. Leach came up empty, and Allegheny once again fouled the Tigers to stop the clock.

This time, Maddy Ramsgard missed her first of two tries from the charity stripe, although her make on the second shot put RIT up 61-56 with 8.8 seconds on the clock. Allegheny got the ball back needing a miracle, and Ramsgard provided it when she knocked down Isabella Antonacci (Indiana, Pa./Indiana Area) on a desperation 3-pointer from the corner. With the free throw, Antonacci's four-point play slashed the deficit to just one point, 61-60, with 5.4 seconds remaining.

Allegheny sent RIT's Caroline Henderson to the line with 2.7 seconds left, and Henderson missed another crucial free throw on her first try. Henderson made the second freebie to reach the final score. However, the Gators had no timeouts left to draw up a last-second play, so they had to improvise on the fly. Antonacci hurled inbound pass to Jess Bickart (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) at midcourt, but Bickart's potential game-winning trey fell short.

Inside the Box Score

• Allegheny shot 61.3% from the field in the first and fourth quarters, but only 15.2% in the middle periods.
• Four of Allegheny's five starters scored double-digit points, led by Antonacci with 17.
• Ava Kobus (Pittsburgh, Pa./Norwin) followed with 12 points, while Bickart and Sarah Santicola (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) each had 10.
• Santicola recorded a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with four assists, two blocks, and one steal.
• RIT shot 35.5% overall (22-of-62) and 47.1% from 3-point range (8-of-17).
• The Tigers had a slight advantage on the glass with a 42-to-40 lead in rebounds.
• Ramsgard netted a team-high 17 points for RIT, one of four Tigers in double figures.

News and Notes

• Sunday's matchup was the second in the all-time series against RIT, which now holds a 2-0 lead over Allegheny.
• Santicola, the team's all-time leader in blocks, moved closer to the career record for rebounds; she finished the weekend with 840, just 28 shy of Carson Slade '91 (868).
• Antonacci was named to the Women Leaders Tip-Off All-Tournament Team after averaging 26.5 points per game against RIT and No. 6-ranked Washington and Lee University.
• First-year guard Mackenzie James (Wexford, Pa./North Catholic) made her collegiate debut and scored three points with two rebounds and two steals in 15 minutes off the bench.

Up Next
The Gators will participate in Chatham University's tournament next weekend, beginning with a contest against Wittenberg University on Friday, November 15, at 5 p.m.