Broncs lose sixth straight in MAAC play 

By Kadie Digiuseppe

Trying to break its four-game losing streak, Rider women’s basketball faced Fairfield and Quinnipiac to start off the new month, ultimately adding two more games to their losing streak. 

Dropping to 5-15 with less than 10 games left in the regular season, the Broncs are trying everything to get back into gear. 

‘We just got a little sloppy’

On Feb. 1, Rider tried to get something going at home against one of the best teams they’ve seen all season so far: Fairfield University. The Broncs put up a hard fight during the first half, but things started to snowball in the second half, resulting in a 67-44 loss. 

During the first quarter, both teams were back and forth on both sides of the ball. At the end of the quarter, it looked like it could be anyone’s game when the score of 15-14 in favor of Fairfield flashed on the screen. 

The second quarter started off scrappy between the two teams but resulted in Fairfield figuring out Rider’s strategies, taking the ball away and making shots to put Fairfield up 35-23 at halftime.

At the start of the second half, the Broncs had a great attitude coming out of the locker room but couldn’t get their defense together to stop the Stags’ offense. 

“We just got a little sloppy with some things, but I know that those are things that we can correct,” said Head Coach Lynn Milligan.

However, graduate student guard Taylor Langan put up some more impressive numbers on Thursday night, when she had 15 points, nine rebounds and one block. 

Langan talked postgame about how “The game came down to turnovers.” During regulation, the Broncs turned the ball over 22 times. 

Senior guard Makayla Firebaugh also shot 50% from the field, put up 10 points and had a steal.

Including the Broncs regular starters, new rotations and more players started to be added in place. When Milligan was asked about more players getting playing time, she had nothing but good things to say about them. 

“Everybody’s working hard in practice, everybody’s doing what they gotta do. They know when their number is called to be ready, whenever that opportunity is. I would like to go deep in our bench, because I think we have some players that can help us, players that know their role and can do different things,” said Milligan.

Losing streak continues 

Two days later, the Broncs traveled to Connecticut to play Quinnipiac, hoping to redeem themselves from their game earlier in the week. That redemption will have to wait, as they dropped their sixth straight to the Bobcats 65-54 on Feb. 3.

The game started as a give-and-go between the two teams in the first quarter, but Quinnipiac kept hold of the lead. Rider picked up offensively in the second quarter, shooting over a majority from the field.

The Broncs were able to keep the game close toward the end, even cutting the score to as close as five points. 

Langan and Firebaugh both put up impressive offensive numbers again, with Langan scoring 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Firebaugh put up three 3-pointers and scored 13 points overall. 

The Broncs will be back on the road to play at Mount St. Mary’s on Feb. 8 at 4 p.m., and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.