Amherst, Mass. - Senior tri-captain guard Claire Arnstein (Hicksville, N.Y.) led all scorers with 27 points and added six rebounds and three assists to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 76-69 victory over the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers in the Amherst Women's Basketball Classic this afternoon.  Trinity improves to 4-2 and RPI falls to 1-4.  Amherst defeated Baruch, 79-59, which had beaten Trinity, 74-61, in yesterday's action, in the other Amherst Classic game today.  RPI went 0-2 in the tourney with a 74-36 to the hosts yesterday.

For her efforts, Arnstein was named to the all-tournament team, alongside RPI's Allison Conno, who finished the night with 16 points and five rebounds.  RPI rallied from a 10-8 deficit with 13:00 minute to play in the first half to take a 20-12 lead on an Amanda Brophy layup at the 7:02 mark. The eight point lead was the Engineers' largest of the day, as Trinity finished the first half on a 16-7 run to take a 28-27 lead into the break.

In the second half, Trinity jumped out of the gates en route to a 44-33 lead on an Arnstein layup at the 13:00 minute mark. The Bantam lead hovered around a dozen points for much of the second stanza, until a 6-2 run by Trinity late in the half gave the Bantams a 73-53 lead with 2:36 to play. The 20 point lead had everyone in the building thinking the game was over.

RPI nearly pulled off a spectacular comeback effort. With the Trinity lead sitting at 16 points and just 34 seconds remaining, the Engineers closed the gap to 75-66. Time ran out on the Engineers, as they were only able to muster another pair of free throws and ended the game trailing 76-69.  rnstein was supported by sophomore guard Kaitlin Ciarleglio (Waterbury, Conn.) with 11 points and four rebounds.

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