Rider faces scoring slump in 84-53 loss at Iona
By Kadie DiGiuseppe
Rider women’s basketball was up bright and early for its 11 a.m. matinee in New Rochelle, New York, to take on Iona, but the Broncs were defeated by the Gaels 84-53, dropping its record to 3-14.
The Broncs started off leading 5-0 with all points obtained by senior guard Gabby Turco including a 3-pointer to open the game.
Iona responded with a 3-pointer of its own, but freshman forward Winner Bartholomew gave the Broncs their five-point lead back on the next sequence.
After a couple misses and defensive mistakes, Iona took its first lead with four minutes left in the first.
Turco, freshman guard Camryn Collins and junior forward Emilee Tahata all scored before the end of the quarter, but Rider still trailed 17-15.
Trailing by five, Turco and sophomore guard Aliya McIver cut the Iona lead to one.
The close gap didn’t last long for the Broncs, though, as Iona responded with two 3-pointers.
Sophomore center Kaylan Devaney added five points including a 3-pointer as halftime approached, but after Iona’s fifth 3-pointer of the quarter, Rider was down by 11.
Senior guard Mariona Cos-Morales and senior guard Jamia Blake finished off the half with the last four Rider points, bringing the score to 42-30 at halftime.
“Obviously, we are coming up a little short on [offense] and we just got to grinding it out. We got to continue to do what we believe we do well. We have to do it at a higher level and a more consistent pace,” said Head Coach Lynn Milligan.
The Iona offense did not skip a beat coming out of the break and outscored Rider 22-12 in the third quarter.
Devaney added four more points during the third while freshman guard Amany Lopez and freshman guard Emmy Roach combined for five points.
Rider trailed 64-42 entering the last quarter, where the game truly became out of reach.. Iona went on a 14-4 run before Collins and Lopez put together a pair of jumpers.
Freshman guard Jocelyn Chavez finished off the game with four made free throws ending the game behind 84-53.
“We were a step slow today. Our closeouts were a little short. Iona stepped up and made some big shots. We switched a couple times, we stayed with a couple times, but in the end our closeouts and our ball pressure wasn’t what it needed to be to take them out of their comfort zone,” said Milligan.
Turco finished with 13 points to lead Rider, while Devaney finished with her second-highest-scoring game of the season with nine.
The Broncs were 3-7 from beyond the arc, while Iona was 12-22. The Gaels also won the rebound game 41-23.
“We got to put a full 40 minutes together. We got to be ready. We have the depth, we just got to be ready and I have to make sure that I am putting everybody in the most successful situations,” said Milligan.
The Broncs will return to the Alumni Gym to play Quinnipiac on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
