The St. Lawrence women's basketball team held off a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Engineers of RPI 64-59 on Friday afternoon in Troy, N.Y.

The Saints started with the first four points, followed by eight straight by the Engineers. After a few minutes of exchanging buckets, the Saints scored the final five points to lead 18-12 at the first break.

RPI used the second quarter to narrow the gap, and got the score to within one point twice, but Katie Frederick hit back-to-back buckets in the paint to send the Saints into halftime up 35-30.

Early in the second half, a Dylan Watkiss layup put the Saints up nine, their biggest lead of the game, but RPI fought back with eight straight to make it a one-point game. A Frederick lay-in stopped the run, but RPI responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game. Abby Doin responded with a three of her own, which sparked a nine-point run for the Saints, all off of 3-point shots, to go into the final break leading 52-43.

The Engineers scored the first six points of the final quarter. Olivia Middleton found a cutting Olivia Barringer, who laid the ball in to cut stop the run. Three times in the fourth quarter RPI cut the lead to just three points, but each time the Saints were able to get the next score.

With under 90 seconds to go, Frederick hit a pair of free throws to give the St. Lawrence a five-point lead, and despite RPI grabbing four offensive rebounds in the last minute, they were not able to get the ball in the hoop, and the final score read 64-59 in favor of the scarlet and brown.

"We played poorly today and were fortunate to come out with a win," said head coach Dan Roiger. "Some big buckets from Cam Roberts and Abby Doin, and Olivia Middleton played excellent defense today. Those players covered up some glaring mistakes we made throughout the game, but we hung in there, and got an important win despite not playing well."

Middleton led all scorers with 14 points, and Frederick had a dozen. Ava McCann, Watkiss, Roberts, Barringer, and Doin all had at least seven, as the Saints spread the scoring around.

The Saints shot 37.5-percent in the game, and hit eight shots from deep, led by Doin's three.

RPI was held to 32.8-percent from the floor and hit five from beyond the arc.

The teams had identical rebounding stats, with each coming down with 31 defensive and 16 offensive.

Records: St. Lawrence (19-2, 12), RPI (4-19, 3-11)
Up Next: at Ithaca on February 12 at 2 p.m.