Rider wins at home, defeats Stonehill 65-53
By Kadie DiGiuseppe
Playing in Alumni Gym for the last time in 2024, Rider women’s basketball defeated the Stonehill Skyhawks 65-53 on Dec. 14, giving the Broncs their first win in over a month and second win of the season.
Senior guard Gabby Turco got off to a strong start, gaining half of the 12 points scored by the Broncs by the end of the first quarter.
The Skyhawks finished the opening quarter with 21 points after the Broncs allowed one of the Stonehill players to make four 3-pointers.
The Broncs trailed by almost 10 or more toward the middle of the second quarter until they strung together three consecutive stops before freshman guard Camryn Collins’ layup cut the Skyhawks lead to five.
Rider’s defense stayed in lockdown mode for the rest of the second quarter and was able to bring the game within one point going into the locker room after freshman forward Winner Bartholomew’s layup beat the buzzer.
During the second quarter, the Broncs only allowed the Skyhawks to score four points, bringing the score at halftime to 27-26.
With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Stonehill worked its way back up to a nine-point lead.
Trying to cut down the Skyhawks lead, junior guard Taylor Blunt and junior forward Emilee Tahata added six points together.
To start the final quarter, Rider trailed 43-35 but freshman guard Jocelyn Chavez started off the quarter with a 3-pointer, the first made by the Broncs during the game.
Collins added another 3-pointer on the next possession which ignited a fire under Bartholomew, giving her back-to-back layups.
Turco added a layup of her own after which gave the Broncs their first lead, 47-46 since the opening quarter.
Bartholomew started off the Broncs winning scoring drive with another good layup. Tahata, sophomore guard Aliya McIver, Cos-Morales, Collins and Turco added 14 combined points while limiting the Stonehill offense to seven points.
Turco finished the game leading the Broncs with 18 points after shooting the final two free throws which secured the 65-53 win.
“Anytime your name is called and you come out ready, it speaks a lot for you,” Turco said. “Because of that, you’ll get more opportunities later. I think those girls and everyone else did a really good job and put everything out there to get this win.”
Bartholomew contributed 16 points which marks her collegiate career high during the Broncs first win on their home court this season.
Bartholomew said, “I feel like it was really big because no matter how great you are, there’s no LeBron [James] on our team for now so you can’t do everything that the team needs. You need someone to hold your hand and be able to take that position when you can’t or when you’re too tired too.”
The Broncs will start Metro Atlantic Conference play on Dec. 19 against Quinnipiac at 11 a.m.
“You go into the MAAC feeling good about a good win where you played well but, confidence is a choice to me. We are going to choose to be confident or we are not, but I think this group is confident,” said Head Coach Lynn Milligan.
