Women's College Basketball
Rider University 65, Fairleigh Dickinson University 64 (ot)
HACKENSACK?A night after seeing the Rider men's basketball team win by one at Lehigh, the Rider women's basketball team followed suit. Junior Tammy Meyers (Willingboro) hit a left side base line driving layup with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime to give Rider (2-1) a come from behind one-point win at Fairleigh Dickinson University (1-2) Friday night.
“I told the team in the huddle with six seconds left to get the ball back to Tammy off the inbounds and we executed the play perfectly,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “With the success that she was having, we wanted her to get the last touch to try to win the game.”
“Coach [Milligan] drew up a great play,” said Meyers. “We executed it exactly how it was drawn up. Once I got the ball, all I thought was to do what I was told to do and drive to the basket and get a good look. It feels good to make the winning shot.”
Meyers finished with a career-high 28 points and recorded her second career ?double-double' with 10 rebounds in 35 minutes of play.
“FDU was unable to guard her off the dribble all night,” Milligan added. “I challenged Tammy to step up tonight and she did. Tonight was her night.”
“I had an up and down game,” Meyers remembered. “I had a few too many turnovers (eight) but even with my shot not falling (7 of 17 shooting), I was able to get to the free throw line. I kept doing what was working for us.”
The game featured five ties and eight lead changes with all of the lead changes coming in overtime. Rider led wire to wire in regulation with FDU tying the game twice including a three-pointer with 34 seconds left in the second half to knot the score at 53.
“Tonight was a step in the right direction for what we are trying to build,” said Milligan. “We always want to come out and throw the first punch and we did that for the better part of the game. With two minutes left, FDU punched back and were able to send the game into overtime. For us to be able to come out in overtime with the momentum clearly on their side and be able to execute is a credit to our kids.”
“We kept FDU off the boards toward the end of the game,” Meyers added. “We stayed together as a team and when FDU made their run, we stayed composed. I credit our coaching staff with putting us in the right position in practice to simulate the stress of an end of the game situation. We work on those types of situations every day in practice.”
Trailing 55-53 with four minutes remaining in overtime, Meyers hit four free throws in a row (in between a missed one and one free throw by FDU) to give the Broncs a two-point lead with 3:42 left in the game.
Trailing by one with 1:40 left, Meyers hit two free throws to give Rider a 63-62 lead before FDU re-took the lead on a jumper with 1:29 remaining. Meyers finished 14 for 16 from the line including six for six in overtime and made her last 13 free throws in a row. As a team, Rider was 19 of 21 from the charity stripe.
“We work on free throw shooting everyday,” Milligan added. “One of our team goals is to shoot at least 75 percent for the season. Making free throws is going to give us a chance to win some games, especially when we get into conference play.”
The two-game winning streak marks Rider's longest since winning three straight during the 2004-05 season.
Trailing by 10 to start the second half, FDU tied the game at 33 with 13 minutes remaining in the second half on the strength of a 13-3 run. “When we are ahead, we have to get to the point that we are going to close a game out,” Milligan said. “We aren't young by age but we are a young team in the respect of competitive game situations and tonight was a learning experience.”
Leading 19-18 with four minutes remaining in the first half, Rider went on a 9-0 run, three points by junior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy), opening up a 10-point lead with one minute left in the opening period and the Broncs led 30-20 at intermission. Sepulveda finished with seven points in 38 minutes of play.
The Broncs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, four points by junior Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie). Wisniewski had eight points and nine rebounds, four on the offensive glass.
Also for Rider, senior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) tied a career-high with five steals, all in the first half.
“We challenged Shaunice to guard one of FDU's better players Christy Altamirano,” Milligan said. “Assistant coach Rashana Barnes did an excellent job scouting FDU and we were ready for the plays that they ran. Shaunice is a quick defender and made some smart challenges which led to her steals.”
The Bronc defense caused 24 FDU turnovers. “We turned the ball over 28 times,” Milligan added. “It was a little lack of discipline on our part and we didn't take care of the ball like we needed to. I told them in the locker room that we need to learn as much from a win as a loss and not overlook the things we need to correct.”
Rider made only two field goals from three-point range on 17 attempts. “We are trying to become more of a transition team,” said Milligan. "Because of that, our shot selection may be a little off. We are going to take some lumps in games because of that. Seventeen three's is way too many for us. But I would rather learn those lessons off of a win.”
The Broncs held a 45-40 advantage on the boards with each team grabbing 12 offensive rebounds.
Since the 1977-78 season, Rider has been involved in 36 one-point games, winning 18. Last season, the Broncs lost two one-point games, against Niagara in Alumni Gym and at Rice.
In her second season, Milligan is now 3-1 in overtime games as Bronc head coach. Last season, Rider defeated Army in overtime before splitting two overtime games with MAAC-rival Siena.
This is the second season in a row that Rider has started the season winning two of its first three games. Prior to Milligan's arrival, Rider's last 2-1 start to a season was the 1998-99 campaign.
Rider's last one-point road win was at Siena on February 19, 2005 when the Broncs prevailed 49-48.
The Broncs lead the all-time series 12-7 over FDU and have now won 11 in a row over the Knights. This was the first meeting between the former Northeast Conference rivals since the 1996-97 season.
Rider travels to West Long Branch, New Jersey, to face Monmouth on Monday night at 7:00pm.
“We're excited for the opportunity to put together back to back road wins,” Milligan said. “That's the challenge we now face. We proved we can win on the road and now we have the challenge of going back to back. Monmouth is an in-state rival. We beat them last year so we expect them to come out and get after us and we have to be ready.”
You can bet that Milligan and the rest of the coaching staff will have the Broncs ready to take of business even if it involves working overtime.
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