Women's College Basketball
Seton Hall University 64, Rider University 48
NEWARK ? Despite 15 points and five rebounds from junior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun School) the Rider University women's basketball team lost its 2008-09 season opener to Seton Hall University 64-48 Friday night at the Prudential Center. “I think we missed a great opportunity against a quality BIG EAST team,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “We dug ourselves an early hole that we couldn't get out of.”
Trailing 46-22 in the second half, Rider (0-1) went on a 9-1 run, four points from junior Tammy Meyers (Willingboro), to get within 14 points (47-33) with 13 minutes remaining but that would be as close as the Broncs would get until the final buzzer.
Meyers finished with 10 points and three rebounds in 34 minutes of action.
“I'm excited about how we came back in the second half,” Milligan said. “In order for us to be successful, we need to be able to get through adversity and you saw that we were able to battle back in the later part of the game.”
“We talked about boxing out and taking pride in our defense at halftime,” said Sepulveda. “That carried over and we started playing better on the defensive end in the second half."
Sophomore guard Cintella Spotwood (Trenton/Trenton Central) tied a career-high with 10 points, seven in the second half and added five rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Spotwood shot 40 percent from the field.
Rider out-scored Seton Hall by six in the final 20 minutes, holding the Pirates to 25 percent shooting. The Hall shot 48 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
Seton Hall (1-0) held the Broncs to 1-11 shooting to start the game, opening on an 18-3 run with Sepulveda scoring the only Bronc points. Sepulveda scored Rider's first 10 points of the game.
“We didn't come out as aggressive as we need to in the first half,” Sepulveda added. “It didn't matter to me where the points came from, I knew we needed someone to score and my teammates were able to find me for some good looks.”
Trailing 22-13 with six minutes left in the opening half, Rider had the ball and a chance to cut the Pirate lead to six but missed a three which led to a 17-4 Seton Hall run. The Broncs shot five of 23 from beyond the arc for the game.
“If that shot goes in, maybe it is different going into halftime,” Milligan said. “What really hurt us was 31 of their 39 points were second chance opportunities, via rebounds or transition. The run that they had was caused by us turning the ball over. We did a lot of things to ourselves and Seton Hall is well coached and took advantage of those opportunities.”
The Pirates led 39-17 at intermission.
Also for the Broncs, senior forward Shaunice Parker (Walford, Md./West Lake) led the team in rebounds with eight and now has 571 career caroms, ninth best all-time at Rider. Parker passed Chris Marro '91 who finished her career with 564 boards.
Junior forward Ashley Anderson (East Orange) came off the bench to grab seven rebounds and two steals in only 19 minutes of action.
Seton Hall was a stronger defensive presence in the paint outrebounding Rider 52-39 and held the Broncs to three assists on 14 made field goals. Rider was held to 24 percent shooting from the field.
The Pirates have won all six meetings against Rider. The teams last met to open the 2003-04 season with the Hall winning by 25.
The Broncs open the 2008-09 home schedule against Colgate University on Sunday, November 16th at 4:00pm in Alumni Gym on the Lawrenceville campus.
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