Women's College Basketball
Monmouth University 50, Rider University 48 (ot)
WEST LONG BRANCH?Jennifer Bender hit two free throws with 2:33 remaining in overtime to give the Hawks a 50-48 win over Rider University Monday night at Boylan Gym.
“The kids played their hearts out and defensively we were terrific,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “We obviously didn't score enough points and missed some layups that cost us. We're not going to live on what ifs. We are going to watch the film and work on getting better.”
Bender led all scorers with 18 points.
Junior Tammy Meyers (Willingboro), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Week for all games last week, missed a top of the key jumper at the buzzer that would have forced a second overtime.
Bender hit two free throws to give the Hawks a 48-46 lead with 4:34 left in overtime.
Junior Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) scored a layup for the seventh and final tie of the game with 3:22 remaining but the Broncs were unable to score again. Wisniewski finished with six points in the game.
Tied at 46, Rider (2-2) had a chance to take the lead with 28.8 seconds remaining in regulation with Wisniewski missing two free throws. The Bronc defense held the Hawks to a shot clock violation but could not connect on a three at the buzzer. Wisniewski went two for six from the charity stripe on the night.
Rider took a 46-45 lead with 2:21 left on a three-point field goal by freshman Alyssa Parsons (Philadelphia, Pa/Archbishop Wood), her only points of the game. Parsons also had four assists. Monmouth tied the game on a free throw with 1:59 remaining in regulation.
Trailing by seven, the Broncs used an 8-2 run, six points by Meyers, to get within one (40-39) with 7:00 left in the game. Meyers finished with her second ?double-double' in a row tying a career-high with 10 rebounds to go along with 12 points. Meyers also had four assists.
Rider held Monmouth without a field goal for a five minute stretch of the second half and cut the Hawk lead to 30-28 with 12 minutes remaining in the game on a three-pointer by senior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake). Parker finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
Monmouth went on a 12-0 run, holding the Broncs scoreless for 9:14 opening up a five-point lead before freshman Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) scored her only two points of the night at the halftime buzzer and the Hawks led 26-23 at intermission.
During the Hawk run, the Broncs missed 12 field goal attempts in a row including several layup attempts.
“Not scoring that amount of time hurt us,” Milligan said. “We rely on our defensive effort, that's our staple and that's what we re-focused on going into the second half. We are a work in process as far as our mental toughness and being able to finish plays with confidence.”
Leading by one with 10 minutes left in the first half, Rider went on a 6-0 run, all six points by junior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) with the Broncs opening up a seven point lead (21-14) with nine minutes left in the first period. Sepulveda had 12 points in the game, making four three-pointers.
Tied at 10, Rider went on a 5-0 run, three points by Sepulveda taking a five-point lead with 11:24 left in the opening half.
This is the first time since the 1989-90 season that Rider has played two straight overtime games.
“This will help make us mentally tougher,” Milligan said. “We are aware of some of the problems that we have finishing. We'll learn as much from this loss as the FDU overtime win. We'll get back to work in practice and make the players more confident in what they are able to do. Instead of thinking we'll make a shot, we have to expect that we will make a shot. It sounds simple but that takes a lot of hard work.”
Rider caused 17 turnovers including four shot clock violations by Monmouth but were forced into 21 turnovers by the Hawk defense.
“It's frustrating,” Milligan added. “The players followed the defensive game plan and we made some miscues which cost us at the end of the game. Our overall defensive effort was very solid. Monmouth was also solid on the defensive end and took us out of our rhythm. It is disappointing that we had a lot of unforced turnovers. We have to get that corrected in practice.”
This was the 34th meeting all-time between Rider and Monmouth with the Hawks winning for the 25th time.
The Broncs host Texas Pan American on December 1 at 7:00pm in Alumni Gym.
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