Broncs eliminated from MAAC tournament contention

By Kadie DiGiuseppe 

Rider women’s basketball lost its final two games of the season against Canisius on March 6, 77-61, and to Niagara, 67-65, at the last second on March 8.

The two losses eliminated the Broncs from playoff contention, missing out on a trip to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament for the first time in program history. Rider finished the season with a 7-22 overall record. 

On March 10, Rider announced Head Coach Lynn Milligan was let go and would not be returning to the team.

Offensive struggles

To start off its last road trip of the season, the Broncs traveled to Buffalo, New York to face the Canisius Golden Griffins. 

Freshman forward Winner Bartholomew got the offense started early with four points in the first minute of the game. 

Down 6-2 in the first quarter, the Golden Griffins responded with a 7-0 run and tied things up at 14 even. 

Bartholomew capped off the quarter with three more points for the Broncs but they trailed 23-17 at the end of the first 10 minutes. 

Senior guard Sanaa Redmond and freshman guard Camryn Collins both opened the second quarter with two points followed by a layup from senior guard Mariona Cos-Morales. 

Freshman guard Jocelyn Chavez and sophomore guard Aliya McIver combined for four points, tying the game up at 27 even. 

Canisius’ second 7-0 run was ended by Bartholomew but the Golden Griffins kept their lead at the end of the first, 38-31. 

The Golden Griffins offense came out of the locker room firing away and worked its way up to a 22 point lead nearing the end of the third quarter. 

Senior guard Gabby Turco gained four points to try and give Rider some momentum going into the last quarter. 

Turco, Bartholomew and Collins had all their buckets responded to by Golden Griffins in the last quarter which maintained their large lead. 

Junior forward Emilee Tahata drilled a 3-pointer but the Broncs could not come back from the deficit which resulted in the 77-61 loss. 

Turco finished the affair leading all scorers with 18 points while Bartholmew and Collins both broke double figures as well. 

The Broncs won the turnover battle 16-8 but only made one of their 13 3-point attempts while the Golden Griffins made eight. With the loss, Rider was eliminated from playoff contention. 

Last-minute loss

The Broncs stayed up north to take on its last opponent of the season, the Niagara Purple Eagles who took a 8-2 lead to start the afternoon. 

Tahata and Turco tied things at eight and shortly after, freshman guard Emmy Roach tied things back up at 11 after Niagara made a 3-pointer. 

The Broncs trailed by three to start the second quarter until Cos-Morales obtained her first points of the game followed by Turco who gave Rider the lead. 

Tahata and McIver combined for five points after that which gave the Broncs a three point edge.

“Winner [Bartholomew] did a good job of positioning herself under the basket. Her teammates did a real good job of finding her. She’s just a great finisher. She has been all season,” Milligan said.

Bartholomew also was named as one of the five MAAC rookie of the year to which Milligan said that she was “really proud of that.”

McIver, Bartholomew and Turco ended the quarter all reaching the bottom of the basket, resulting in the Broncs 33-30 lead at halftime. 

The Purple Eagles started off the second half on an 8-2 run and regained the lead before the Broncs went up 50-44, nearing the end of the third quarter. 

Rider sustained its lead until the final seconds of the third quarter when a Niagara player connected on a 3-pointer. 

Both teams opened up the final quarter going scoreless for the first four minutes. The Broncs trailed until McIver tied the game at 61 even with less than three minutes left. 

Turco and Bartholomew made two clutch buckets to take the lead back but with 26 seconds left, the Purple Eagles tied things once again at 65 even. 

With two seconds left, Rider could not stop the Purple Eagles who made a layup, securingthe 67-65 win for Niagara. 

“It was a great game. The team played hard and just together. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t pull it out,” Milligan said.

Bartholomew finished her last game as a freshman with 16 points while Turco finished with 12. McIver and Tahata both had 11 points of their own. 

“Winner [Bartholomew] did a great job of positioning herself under the basket. Her teammates did a real good job of finding her. Shss

The Broncs turned the ball over 17 more times than they did two days before and only made one 3-pointer once again. 

Rider finished with a 7-22 overall record and a 5-15 record against MAAC opponents. The Broncs finished the season 11th out of the 13 teams in the MAAC.