Women's College Basketball - Exhibition Game
Rider University 56, West Chester University 51
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Rider University women's basketball team used a 'double-double' from sophomore Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) for a come from behind win against Division II West Chester on Sunday afternoon in Alumni Gym.
Homan finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, four on the offensive glass and added two assists and a steal in 20 minutes.
"Sarah has worked very hard in the weight room over the past year," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "She got stronger and is now able to take a hit and still hang onto the ball. Her positioning, moving block to block has also improved. She is going to be a force to be reckoned with."
Trailing 40-36 with 11:24 remaining in the game, Rider went on a 16-4 run, eight points from sophomore Ali Heller (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews) to give the Broncs the lead for good at 52-44 with 5:59 left in the contest. Heller finished with 13 points off the bench.
"Ali is one of our three-point specialists," Milligan said. "She worked hard over the summer to pick up her game and rose to the occasion when she got the opportunity today. She got some good reversal passes from the post players and was able to knock the shots down." Heller was three for four from three-point range in the game.
Trailing 52-44, West Chester went on a 7-0 run to cut the Rider lead to one (52-51) with 2:24 left but could get no closer as the Broncs ended the game scoring the last four points. The Broncs held WCU without a field goal for the final 3:49.
Rider out-rebounded the Golden Rams 56-43 including 18-16 on the offensive glass and the Broncs had 18 assists on 22 made field goals.
"One of our goals is to up our assist numbers," Milligan said. "I'm pleased with that. It was a question today of finding the right flow and the right combinations, what offense works for what groups and as we get more comfortable with that, the results will improve on the offensive end of the floor."
"We've been working on rebounding in practice and that extra work paid off today," said Homan, who was an All-MAAC Rookie honoree last season. "Our intensity in practice has helped us with the rebounding drills because it teaches how to push through and do the grunt work."
Also for the Broncs, senior Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) had 11 points on five for seven shooting to go along with nine rebounds.
"It is going to be good for us to have a post game where we can keep the players fresh," Milligan said about the Wisniewski-Homan combination. "Steph knows what her role is and when she has to step up and today, she was a spark for us and put up some positive numbers."
Rider played without All-MAAC First Team selection Tammy Meyers (Willingboro) who is coming off an illness. "Everyone got to play today and the freshmen got to see some minutes as well," Milligan said. "With the depth that we have, if someone is out, there is someone else who will be called on to step up and you saw that from several players today."
The Broncs led 7-4 with 14:17 left in the first half, three points by Heller before West Chester responded with a 16-4 run, opening up a 20-11 lead with 6:14 remaining in the opening period.
Trailing 22-13, Rider closed to within 24-22 at the half with a 9-2 run, three points by freshman Shereen Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton). Lightbourne finished with three points in the game.
The game featured four ties and 10 lead changes.
Each team struggled from the floor with a combined 99 missed shots and as you might expect in an exhibition game, there were a combined 45 turnovers (27 by Rider) with West Chester compiling 19 steals.
"You are a little tight the first time you put the uniform on," Milligan said. "We obviously didn't shoot the ball very well. That's why you play exhibition games, to get the nerves out and hopefully the offense will flow better the next time out. Today really gives us a bench mark of where we are and where we need to be." After shooting 30 percent in the opening half, Rider improved to 43 percent in the final 20 minutes and shot 36 percent for the game.
"We made mistakes but we worked through the kinks and came out with the win," Homan added. "Even though it was an exhibition, we didn't want to lose. We want to win every time we step onto the court and today we were going to push hard to get that done."
"Early on, the offense is going to struggle a little," Milligan added. "You rely on your defensive effort to get you through and hope that the offense will give you just enough to win the game and that's what happened today."
Freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) had six points and eight rebounds (three offensive) for the Broncs.
Rider hosts Seton Hall on Friday in the 2009-10 season opener.
"We have a couple days to get ready for Seton Hall," Milligan said. "The good thing about exhibitions, we know exactly what our weaknesses are and what we struggled with and we will use the next several days to tighten things up. Friday night will be a difficult challenge for us but if we are prepared and play hard, we will be right in the game and competitive."
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