New-era Broncs start 1-0 in home opener victory

By Benjamin Shinault

In Head Coach Jackie Hartzell’s first game coaching Rider women’s basketball, the team walked away with a fun and electric victory at home. On Nov. 6, the Broncs welcomed in the Lafayette College Leopards and had their way, winning 65-58. 

‘We shot the ball pretty well’

A cloud of mystery and uncertainty was surrounding the Rider women’s basketball team during the summer and into the fall. But, as soon as the game tipped off, any doubt dispersed and basketball was underway at the Alumni Gym.

Scoring was opened up by the Leopards with a layup down low, but was answered back with a layup by graduate student forward Kristina Ekofo.

Throughout the first quarter of action, things were tight. The largest lead in the first quarter was only three points. It was not until the second quarter where there was some real separation. 

In the second quarter, the Broncs were able to escape to an eight-point lead, thanks to a 3-point basket from freshman guard Alena Cofield. Cofield was everywhere during her Rider debut as she finished with 14 points, three 3-pointers made, two assists and two steals. 

With Rider up 25-17, the Leopards came clawing back and knotted it back up at 30-30 after cashing in six of their six free throw attempts and exposing some holes in the Broncs interior defense. 

Coming out of the break, Hartzell knew exactly what to do to fix the early problems of the first half.

“We really just talked about stepping it up defensively,” Hartzell said. 

The Broncs did that and more coming out of the break. In the third quarter, Lafayette only made three of their 13 field goal attempts while the Broncs made 10 of their 16 shots for an absurd 62.5% field goal percentage.

Rider, also in that third quarter, knocked down all five of their 3-point attempts. By the end of the game, the Broncs hit 10 3-pointers, the most in a game since January 1, 2024, in a matchup against Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Within the dominant third quarter by Rider, the team went on a 12-0 run that caused the Leopards to burn a timeout. 

Junior guard Aliya McIver splashed two 3-pointers in the quarter to add to her impressive stat line. McIver, the longest tenured player on the team, tied her career-high of 11 point, snapped her career-high in 3-point field goals made, as well as minutes played.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Broncs had a 19-point lead following Ekofo’s layup. But, slowly, Lafayette started to emerge and the Rider lead swelled down to only seven points with under four minutes to play. 

In the fourth quarter, the Leopards outscored the Broncs 20-10 and had a field goal percentage of 43% while the Broncs had a percentage of 21%. Lafayette also went on a 10-0 run, which was silenced by a pair of Ekofo’s free throws.

Ekofo, in her Rider debut, turned heads. The Belgium native had 19 points, nine rebounds, a steal and a block. 

“I just came here to play hard, and if I can score good, but to rebound and defend, that’s what I came here to do,” Ekofo said.

The fourth quarter for Rider seemed to be the only aspect of the game that went sideways. Hartzell knew exactly what happened.

“[Lafayette] really turned up the pressure and it is our first game and we are not really used to seeing it, you can only simulate that type of pressure so much at practice so I think we just lost our composure for a little bit … but we made enough good plays to win the game,” Hartzell said.

The lead only went down to seven before Rider got their wheels back on track on the defensive side of the ball. 

Time expired and the Broncs started out 1-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Hartzell is only the third Rider women’s basketball head coach to win in their Division I coaching debut.

“Being at home and this being our first game, it feels great to win, especially with a new team, new coach, new energy, new culture, it feels great,” McIver said.

Rider will head on the road north to Massachusetts to play Boston College. The Broncs will face the Eagles on Nov. 12, with tipoff beginning at 6 p.m, and it will be streamed on ESPN+.