Short-handed Broncs lose fourth straight to Canisius
By Kadie DiGiuseppe and Jordan Hirsh
After a dire loss to Manhattan on Jan. 4, Rider women’s basketball looked to bounce back on Jan. 9 against the Canisius Golden Griffins, but the Broncs were defeated once again, 63-43, falling to 0-4 against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponents.
Rider was without its leading scorer, senior guard Gabby Turco, who missed her first game of the season with a hip injury.
It was all Broncs early on, as freshman guard Camryn Collins drilled jumpers from the paint and beyond the arc, while senior guard Mariona Cos-Morales knocked down four free throws to help Rider gain a 11-2 lead after less than four minutes of action.
Canisius responded with an 8-0 run, but the Broncs maintained the lead through the quarter.
Collins finished the opening quarter with eight points, while Cos-Morales mixed in a pair of steals and blocks, which gave Rider a 21-18 lead. The 21 points are the most the Broncs have scored in a first quarter all season.
A recurring theme of the first quarter was turnovers, as Rider forced 10 which were turned into 12 points on the other end.
The Broncs struggled to get going in the second quarter and took over three minutes before they found the bottom of the basket.
Canisius took better care of the basketball, committing only two second quarter turnovers. The Golden Griffins took their first lead of the game with under a minute to play in the half and extended it to 34-30 with a buzzer-beating floater.
Coming out of the locker room, sophomore guard Aliya McIver scored the Broncs first points off a layup and on the next offensive sequence connected on a 3-pointer to put Rider within one.
Cos-Morales made a pair of free throws shortly after, giving the Broncs their lead back temporarily. . Rider was scoreless for the next five minutes until Cos-Morales broke up a 5-0 Canisius run.
However, the Golden Griffin’s offense did not stop for the rest of the quarter, going on a 12-0 run, including another buzzer beater, and extending their lead to 12 going into the last quarter.
Neither team scored in the first three minutes of the fourth and the Broncs couldn’t score until there was less than five minutes left. Junior forward Emilee Tahata made two jumpers in a row, but those were the only times the Broncs connected in the final 10 minutes.
Rider suffered its fourth loss in a row with the 63-43 defeat to the Golden Griffins, as the Broncs fell to 0-4 in MAAC play.
“We made shots in the first quarter and we didn’t make shots in the second, third and fourth. I mean, I know it sounds simple but that’s really what it came down to,” said Head Coach Lynn Milligan.
“We showed that in the beginning of the game that we have a team where everyone can really score and we are balanced out. We just fell short tonight with some of our buckets that would have kept us in the game,” said Cos-Morales.
Cos-Morales lead the Broncs in scoring with 12 points, the most she has scored at home this season.
Collins and Tahata trailed behind Cos-Morales with eight points, while McIver finished with six points to go with five steals. Rider won the turnover battle 26-19, but was out-rebounded 36-18.
“Rebounding has skill to it but it has a lot of grit to it. If a ball’s up in the air and you want to go get it, you got to go get it. Sometimes we do that and sometimes we get a little bumped or it’s physical under there. It is what it is,” said Milligan.
The Broncs will welcome the Niagara Purple Eagles to Alumni Gym on Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
