Women's College Basketball
Rider University 56, Monmouth University 41
LAWRENCEVILLE-'C' was anything but average for the Rider University women's basketball team Thursday night.
Junior Cintella Spotwood (Trenton/Trenton Central) (also known as 'C' to her family and friends) had a career-high 18 points, 12 in the second half to lead the Broncs to their first win of the season, 56-41 over Monmouth in Alumni Gymnasium.
Trailing by two at the half, Rider used a stifling defense to hold Monmouth to 13 percent second half shooting (four field goals) and the Broncs outscored the Hawks 30-13 in the final 20 minutes.
"Cintella was the recipient of a lot of Tammy Meyers and Amanda Sepulveda looks," Rider head coach Lynn Milligan said. "A lot of them went to 'C'. She is going to be our X factor. Everyone knows what Tammy and what Amanda can do. Cintella has worked so hard in the off season and this could be a really good break out year. She just works very, very hard and when she stays within herself and within her game she is dangerous. Once she realizes what she is capable of then the sky is the limit."
Meyers and Sepulveda combined for 10 of Rider's 15 assists as the Broncs made 22 field goals with Spotwood shooting eight for 12 (67 percent) from the field.
"It feels good," Spotwood said about notching a career-high in points and more importantly getting the first win of the season. "I have been working hard all summer and all of the off season just to be a better player. I think that I am just starting to prove that. I just hope that I continue to do that by playing hard."
Spotwood scored six points during an 8-0 run to start the second half as Rider took the lead for good at 34-28 with 16:29 left. During that run, sophomore Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) blocked shots on three consecutive Hawk possessions and overall, Monmouth was held to only two field goals in the first 17:40 of the second period. Homan finished with five rebounds (and three blocks) in only 12 minutes of play.
Monmouth (0-2) cut the Bronc lead to three (36-33) with 13:04 left before an 18-2 run gave Rider its biggest lead of the night, 54-35 with less than two minutes remaining.
Also for Rider, senior Tammy Meyers (Willingboro) had 14 points on six for 13 shooting with fellow senior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) adding 11, making four of eight field goals including three from three-point range. Meyers, a preseason First Team All-MAAC selection, also had six assists and tied a career-high with five steals with Sepulveda adding four assists and three rebounds.
Freshman Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) led all rebounders with 11 as Rider held a 48-34 advantage on the glass. "We just have to get on the same page because we have some really good inside players that are going to take pressure off of players like Amanda and Tammy once we get that going," Milligan said. "The more and more you watch our young players play the more and more excited you get." Brown also had four assists, two blocks and a steal in 28 minutes of play.
Rider opened the game scoring 11 of the first 15 points, four points by Meyers and three by Sepulveda however the Broncs turned the ball over 10 times in the first nine minutes of the game, letting the Hawks crawl back into the contest. Rider had 30 turnovers in the game with Monmouth committing 20.
"If we can hold teams to 41 points then you can combat some of the other things that we are struggling with right now," Milligan said. "Early season offense is a struggle that a lot of teams face. We shot the ball extremely well tonight (48 percent). Unfortunately we did not get as many opportunities because we turned it over too much."
Trailing 16-10, the Hawks went on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 18 with 3:54 left in the first half.
Sepulveda hit a three-pointer putting the Broncs up 21-18 at the 3:37 mark before Monmouth scored 10 of the final 15 points of the half to go into the locker room up by two.
"The first half they (Monmouth) really attacked us defensively," Milligan said. "When we would go for a rebound they were scrapping at us and we let some balls go through our hands in the first half. Then they made two big three-pointers just before the half and that put them ahead. So we had to regroup at halftime and adjust a little bit to their pressure."
"We had a nice rhythm in the first half and did a good job," said Hawk head coach Stephanie Gaitley. "We had trouble scoring in the second half and that caused us to start to get beat on transition. We are a young team (starting four freshmen) and there are a lot of things we need to work on. We need to do the small things better and we need to put two halves together. We did some good things defensively (causing 30 turnovers) but we didn't capitalize and score off those opportunities."
Despite having a 10 turnover advantage, Monmouth only had 18 points off turnovers compared to 15 for the Broncs.
"I think we handled Monmouth's pressure pretty well in the second half," Milligan added. "It (the turnovers) was a product of Monmouth's pressure. They are a very good defensive team."
This is Rider's 10th win over the Hawks in the 35-game series. Last season in West Long Branch, Monmouth defeated Rider 50-48 in overtime. The teams have split the last six meetings with the home team winning each time. Monmouth and Rider were Northeast Conference rivals from 1992-93 through 1996-97.
"I think that what you saw tonight is a team that has good things to come and that starts by protecting our home floor," said Milligan. "I think that it is important to have a home identity and I think we did that with our defense tonight. That is a finish that I am very happy about. The first win of the year is always the hardest. I just told them, everyone take a breath. The first one is done. It is the toughest one to get. We are taking the steps in the right direction."
The Broncs out-shot Monmouth 48 percent to 25 percent for the game.
This is the seventh time under Milligan that Rider has held a team in the 40s and the second time that the Broncs performed the feat against Monmouth. Milligan won her first game as Rider's head coach 59-46 on November 9, 2007 against the Hawks.
Rider hosts Fairleigh Dickinson at 2:00pm on Sunday.
"It is going to be a great matchup," Milligan said. "We are going to have to first and foremost defend the way we did tonight. FDU has two very good guards that hurt us last year. One is a pretty good shooter and the other can get to the basket. With freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) and Homan back there as the last line of defense, if they keep their hands up it really helps our guards put more pressure on the perimeter. But we are going to really have to defend well on Sunday."
And for the Broncs to be successful on Sunday and the games moving forward, 'C' and the rest of her teammates will have to be anything but average.
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