College Women's Basketball
Rider University 59, Monmouth University 46
LAWRENCEVILLE?With the Hollywood writers currently on strike, the Rider women's basketball team decided to write an amazing story of its own. Returning to action after winning just twice last season, the Broncs are half way to that win total after just one game, defeating Monmouth 59-46 in the debut of Rider alum and new head coach Lynn Milligan Friday evening in front of nearly 1,000 fans. “We are going to enjoy this win, the players deserve it but tomorrow at 9 a.m., it's back to work,” said Milligan. “It is a long season and we have a game at UMBC on Sunday.”
The Hollywood writers could not have written a better story themselves.
Senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughln) scored a career-high 25 points to lead Rider to the win. The last time Rider began the season 1-0 was also with a victory over Monmouth, in 2002. Rider has won just three season openers in the last 14 years. “My teammates got me the ball and playing within the system, the shots were falling,” said Henderson. “Overall as a team, we were executing and when you get open looks, you have to put them in.”
Rider out-scored Monmouth (0-1) 11-5 over the first four minutes of the second half, four points by junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake), to take a 44-28 lead.
Parker compiled her third career ?double-double' with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Parker had seven rebounds in the first seven minutes of the game. “It was a terrific game,” said Parker. “We worked very hard in the off season and tonight we showed what we were capable of. Coach Milligan has instilled in the team that defensive effort wins games and you have to stop them from scoring. That effort creates opportunities on the offensive end.”
Rider jumped out to a 9-2 lead, five points by Henderson, and led 19-6 mid-way through the first half. The Broncs held Monmouth without a point for the first 3:05 of the game and held the Hawks to only two points for the first 7:23. “We wanted to start strong defensively,” Milligan said. “Obviously having a big crowd helped that effort and they are going to all come back because they saw the kind of effort that the kids put out.”
Holding a 19-11 lead, Rider went on an 8-4 run, three points by senior co-captain Kelli Sawyer (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends Select), to take a 27-15 lead with 4:00 left in the half. Sawyer finished with 10 points and five assists in 31 minutes of action.
Rider caused 24 Hawk turnovers led by six steals from Sawyer and the Broncs out-rebounded Monmouth 52-35 including a 16-10 advantage on the offensive glass.
“The team ran the game plan to a ?T',” said Milligan. “We knew we would have to rebound and defend to win the game and we reached both those goals. Our defense is going to be huge for us. If we can defend, we are going to be a pretty good team.”
The last time Rider held a team to 46 points was against Iona when the Broncs defeated the Gaels 53-46 in a Metro Atlantic Conference game on February 1, 2002.
Rider led 33-23 at the half on 14 points by Henderson.
Trailing 44-28, Monmouth went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 46-37 with 8:32 left to play, but that was as close as the Hawks could get.
“Last year is out of our mind,” Henderson added. “This is a new era. The attitude of the team on and off the court is different. We are closer for what we went through last season and we are picking each other up and encouraging each other.”
Also for the Broncs, sophomore Ashley Anderson (East Orange, N.J./East Orange) came off the bench with eight rebounds (three offensive) in 21 minutes of action.
The Broncs travel to Baltimore, Maryland to take on the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Sunday at noon in a non-conference game. “We are just going to try to carry this game over,” said Henderson. “UMBC is a different team but we have to do the same things that we did tonight, go out and focus and play strong defense.”
A win, in a packed house, with Rider alum Milligan making her head coaching debut. Hollywood could not have written a better script.
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