ROCHESTER, NY – Junior Molly Benetti poured in 24 points but the Nazareth women's basketball team dropped a 71-65 contest to RIT on Thursday night in its first Mark's Crosstown Challenge contest. Nazareth will take on Rochester in its second game of the tournament on Saturday at 6 p.m., hosted at RIT.
 
Nazareth is now 1-2 on the season, while RIT moves to 2-2 overall.
 
The Golden Flyers had a strong start to the game, shooting 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) to take a 20-13 advantage after one quarter of play. 
 
For the game, Nazareth finished with 46-34 advantage for points in the point, a lot of those attributed to Benetti.
 
Nazareth led 33-30 at the break.
 
The Tigers had their best shooting half in the third and were able to take the lead, never looking back. RIT shot 9-of-16 (56.3 percent). The lead was taken for good near the midway point of the third quarter. 
 
In the fourth, Nazareth trailed by as many as nine points at 56-47 with 6:29 to play. A 9-2 run over a 2:16 span brough the Flyers to within 58-56, all nine points coming from Benetti. The Tgers pulled away down the stretch.
 
Benetti had a near double-double with nine rebounds to go with her 24 points.
 
Sarina McDowell was the only other scorer in double figures for Nazareth with 12 points on 54.5 percent from the field.
 
Madalyn Kelly contributed nine points, while Katie MacLachlan added eight points, three assists, and four rebounds.