Women's College Basketball
Rider University 65, Niagara University 62
NIAGARA UNIV, N.Y.?Rider senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) scored a career-high 27 points, 15 in the second half as the Broncs defeated Niagara in a Metro Atlantic Athletic game Sunday afternoon. “We love to make it exciting,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.
Playing all 40 minutes, Henderson added five assists and five rebounds.
“Janele is our only senior,” said Milligan. “There is not much more I can ask her to do. We are playing right now for Janele as our lone senior and I promised Janele when I got here that she was going to go out a winner and she really wants that. She has earned that and she deserves that.”
“I wanted to step up today,” said Henderson. “I may only have two more games left and I want to go out and win. It was a tough loss on Friday [at Canisius] and I wanted to do everything I could, being a senior to get us the win today.”
Trailing 49-48 with seven minutes left in the game, Rider (8-20, 3-14 MAAC) went on a 12-0 run, five points by Henderson to take a 60-49 lead with just under three minutes remaining.
“We executed the offensive well,” Milligan said. “We got back to setting and using screens and the result was terrific. The 16 assists jumps off the stat sheet. The trust that the team had in each other, passing the ball and moving on offense is what won the game for us on the offensive end.”
Niagara (7-21, 5-12 MAAC) responded with an 11-3 run to get within three with seven seconds remaining but could get no closer.
Also for the Broncs, sophomore Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) scored 16 points with six rebounds and went three for four at the free throw line down the stretch to seal the win. Sepulveda also played all 40 minutes and went five for five from the field including a perfect three for three from three-point range.
“We hung on and made our free throws at the end,” said Milligan. “Amanda stepped up.”
“We stepped up yesterday in practice,” said Henderson. “The way we practice is the way we play and we worked very hard yesterday and were able to execute the game plan today and got the result that we wanted. It didn't matter who was going to take the shot, everyone stepped up and we did this today as a team.”
Seven Broncs hit the scoring column with six picking up steals and five picking up assists in the game.
“I worked to keep everyone composed after Niagara's last run,” said Sepulveda. “I kind of slowed everyone down and made sure, since they had to foul us that we were in position to convert the free throws and not turn the ball over becuase of the defensive pressure."
Leading by two with 17 minutes left in the game, Rider went on an 8-0 run, six points by Henderson opening up a 10 point lead 43-33 with 13 minutes left.
Trailing by 11, Niagara tied the game with an 11-0 run with seven minutes left.
The game saw three ties and six lead changes.
Tied at 12 in the first half, Rider went on a 14-5 run, seven points by Henderson and the Broncs led 26-17 with eight minutes left in the opening period.
Niagara countered with a 9-2 run to get within two (31-29) with a minute left in the opening period and Rider led 33-29 at the half. This was the first time that the Broncs led at halftime since the overtime win at Siena on January 27.
Junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) had a game-high 13 rebounds for the Broncs including four on the offensive end.
Rider had a season-high 16 assists (on 24 field goals) and caused 21 Purple Eagle turnovers while racking up 12 steals.
“Our defensive effort was obviously for 40 minutes today,” Milligan said. “Our problem on Friday night was that we only gave a 20 minute effort and we corrected that in practice yesterday and brought that effort into today's game. The players listened to what we needed to do and then went out and executed it. We had a consistent effort from start to finish. We were incredibly unselfish on the offensive end as well with the 16 assists.”
“The defensive effort we had really helped the offense,” said Henderson. “It made a lot of the possessions on the offensive end easier because they were in transition. When you don't have to expend so much on the offensive end, you have more energy for your defensive effort.”
Henderson needs six points to become the 17th women's basketball player at Rider to reach the 1,000 point plateau.
The Broncs broke a three game losing streak and a three game losing streak in the series against Niagara. The Purple Eagles lead the all-time series 15-10.
Niagara defeated Rider 58-57 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on December 9, 2007 with Rider missing three shots in the final minute that would have won the game.
“This win tells us that we are headed in the right direction,” said Milligan. “I lost sleep after the game Friday night and I think the players did as well and we made a team effort to correct what we didn't do right at Canisius and the result was the win today. When you can regroup in practice and have that kind of effort, we know we are doing things the right way.”
Rider hosts Siena in the final regular season game of the 2007-08 season at 4:30pm. The game can be seen on ESPNU. Prior to the game, the Broncs will honor its lone senior Janele Henderson.
“The game on Friday is going to be exciting,” said Sepulveda. “Obviously having just beaten Siena in overtime on their home court, they are going to be out for revenge so we have to come out with more fire than they do.”
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