A clean slate for Rider women’s basketball

By Benjamin Shinault

It has been five seasons since Rider women’s basketball has finished with a record over .500 both in and out of conference.

In those same five seasons, the Broncs had a total winning percentage of .299 and in the 2025-26 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason polls, the Broncs were ranked last.

As a result, Rider Athletics turned the keys over to Head Coach Jackie Hartzell, a former head coach at Division III Arcadia University. 

The slate has been wiped clean and a new era of women’s basketball is set to hit the wooden floors of Alumni Gym. 

A roster turnover

Despite the change in leadership, this season’s Broncs roster will feature some familiar faces. Returning to Rider will be junior guard Aliya McIver, sophomore guard Amany Lopez, sophomore guard Emmy Roach, junior forward Sam Richardson, sophomore guard Jocelyn Chavez and junior center Kaylan Deveney. 

Chavez, who played in 27 games for the Broncs last season, will miss the entire season due to an ACL tear.

The Broncs have six new arrivals coming in. One newcomer includes freshman two-way guard Daniya Brown from Fairfax, Virginia. 

Brown, in Hartzell’s eyes, has shown steady improvement ever since summer training camp kicked off. 

“She’s really shooting the ball well and she’s stepped up and has shown very good improvements since the summer,” Hartzell said.

The Broncs also reeled in speedy freshman guard Alena Cofield from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Cofield was originally planning to play Division III basketball for Hartzell at Arcadia, but when Hartzell received the job at Rider, she brought Cofield with her.

“[Cofield] has been showing that she belongs and has gotten better and has improved as much as any player I have seen in a short amount of time,” Hartzell said.

Rider also dabbled in their overseas scouting hand. Sporting cranberry and white this season will be freshman guard Aina Perez Mesquida and freshman center Claudia Lazaro-Carrasco.

Mesquida, from Manacor, Spain, spent time with the Spanish National team and can play multiple roles on the floor. 

According to Hartzell, Mesquida is projected to crack the starting lineup as a freshman and make an immediate impact.

“She’s going to be a major piece to our team this year,” Hartzell said. “With her versatility, she can do a little bit of everything and she is very smart … She is a coach’s dream.”

Lazaro-Carrasco, from Madrid, stands in at 6 foot 2 inches and is a very versatile post player. 

“She’s got very good length and she is athletic and she has shown that she is a good defender and she can make shots,” Hartzell said.

Veteran voices

Outside of the freshmen and the returners, the Broncs are bringing in two players via the transfer portal.

The first is redshirt junior guard Deb Okechukwu, a transfer from Harcum College, a Division II program in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. 

Coming into Okechukwu’s college career, she was an all-state player for her home state of Washington, D.C. 

The second of the transfers is graduate student forward Kristina Ekofo, who started her college career at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. 

Hartzell views Ekofo as not just a point scorer, but also a veteran voice on and off the court.

“She is a very vocal leader so she is a perfect fit for the way that we play,” Hartzell said.

The road ahead

 Rider’s season kicks off on Nov. 6 when it welcomes Lafayette College at 6 p.m. Last season, for the first time in program history, the Broncs found themselves staying at home and watching the MAAC Championships.

However, a new voice is here and a new team is rolling in with the Broncs eager to return to the sandy Atlantic City boardwalk.