First-year Ava McCann scored 11 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter to lead the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team to a come-from-behind, 52-51, victory over Rensselaer in a Liberty League action on Friday night in Troy, New York.

McCann shot 4-for-9 from the arc and 7-for-13 from the floor to lead the Saints with 20 points. Annabella Pugliese scored nine points and added six rebounds and four assists, while Chelsea Van Tassel grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Engineers got an early jump on the Saints and outscored the Scarlet and Brown in the first and second quarters to take a 28-23 lead at halftime.

Erin Kumler brought the Saints within one with 7:56 to play in the third, but that was as close as the Saints would come in the third frame.

Trailing by five entering the fourth quarter, the Saints made three consecutive shots – all three pointers, two from McCann and one from Pugliese, giving the Saints there first lead of the game and taking a 47-43 lead over the Engineers with just over seven minutes to play.

The Engineers regained the lead on a jumper from Lakissa Martin, but McCann tied the game 49-49 and put the Saints up by three with a 3-pointer at 2:51. The Saints held a slight edge over Rensselaer for the win.

"We played a really strong defensive game tonight," said head coach Dan Roiger. "We struggled a little bit with some rebounding at times RPI was able to penetrate our zone in the first half. But in the second half we stopped the penetration, and in the fourth quarter we cleaned up the boards and made a run. We got some big shots from Annabella and Ava and their teammates were making extra passes to get them good looks. I'm really happy for the team, despite our struggles in the win column, they have been working very hard to keep getting better. It was nice to see them rewarded tonight for that hard work."

Martin shot 8-for-16 from the floor and led Rensselaer with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Celia Tomlinson added nine points and six rebounds.

St. Lawrence improved to 8-16 on the season and 5-12 in conference play, while the Engineers fell to 11-13 and 6-11.

The Saints will wrap up the regular season tomorrow afternoon at Skidmore. Tipoff against the Thoroughbreds is scheduled for 2 p.m.