Women's College Basketball
Niagara University 63, Rider University 54
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Rider freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) had her sixth career 'double-double' and second in a row with 11 points and 15 rebounds as the Rider University women's basketball team lost to Niagara 63-54 at Alumni Gymnasium on Monday night in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.
The 15 boards, for the three-time MAAC Rookie of the Week honoree, ties a career-high.
"We fought hard the whole game," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "We had a few too many break downs defensively on their dribble penetration."
For the first time in 74 games, the starting line up did not include senior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) who missed only the third game of her Bronc career with a foot injury. Sepulveda is Rider's leading scorer at 10.8 points per game.
"Our line up is what it is right now," Milligan said. "We are working hard to put our players in the most successful situations that they can be and we will continue to do that. We have several players in new roles but the bottom line is that we have to step up and make some shots and we didn't do that tonight."
Trailing 35-22 with 15 minutes left in the game, Rider (2-15, 0-6 MAAC) went on a 12-2 run, seven points by junior Cintella Spotwood (Trenton/Trenton Central) and five points by Bopp cutting the Purple Eagle lead to three (37-34) with 12 minutes left. Spotwood finished with a team-high 14 points and added four rebounds in 38 minutes.
"Cintella and Caitlin, especially playing without Amanda were a good inside-outside combination for us," said Milligan. "Cintella read what the defense was giving her and wasn't forcing up shots. We got Caitlin touches on the block and once they are on the same page, they will be even more successful and you saw the start of that tonight."
Niagara (5-12, 2-4 MAAC) responded with a 10-2 run and increased its lead to 13 (51-38) with six minutes left.
Both teams opened the game ice cold, shooting a combined 0-14 from the field (Niagara 0-9 and Rider 0-5) and the game was scoreless until Niagara's Kayla Stroman hit a jumper 5:24 into the contest. Stroman had 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Trailing 12-4, Rider cut the Purple Eagle lead to one with a 9-2 run, five points by Spotwood and four points from Bopp and the Broncs trailed 14-13 with 4:34 left in the half. Bopp added three blocks in 35 minutes of play.
Niagara rallied to score the next six points and the Purple Eagles went into intermission up 23-15. The Purple Eagles shot 23 percent and the Broncs 20 percent in the opening 20 minutes with the Broncs scoring their lowest opening period output of the season.
Jennifer McNamee led four Purple Eagles in double-digits with 16 points with Liz Flooks adding 15, 11 in the second half. Ali Morris scored 10 for Niagara. McNamee broke a 2-2 tie early in the game with a three-pointer, becoming the 20th Purple Eagle to hit the 1,000 point plateau.
Also for Rider, freshman Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) tied a career-high with 11 rebounds and scored eight points, along with three assists in 30 minutes with senior Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) adding seven rebounds.
"Carleigh is a Philly kid," said Milligan. "She is a grunt worker who works very hard. She wants to win and will do everything she can to make that happen. We put her in a tough spot at the '3' tonight and she did a decent job."
Sophomore Ali Heller (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews) drove to the basket several times in the game and had six points, including four from the free throw line to go along with three assists in 29 minutes of play.
"Ali had some success getting to the rim," said Milligan. "She recognized how Niagara was playing her and made some good decisions by not forcing passes that weren't there."
Rider out-rebounded the Purple Eagles 50-38. Niagara out-shot the Broncs 38 percent to 33 percent.
Rider had 20 turnovers with the Purple Eagles committing only 11. "When you are struggling to score, sometimes you try to force option 'A'," Milligan added. "We have many options on almost every play that we run and sometimes the first option isn't always your best look. When we score, it is usually off options 'B', 'C' or 'D' and we have to be more disciplined not to force option 'A'".
Niagara has won two in a row and sent Rider to its eighth straight defeat. "We are staying the course and trying to get better each day," Milligan said. "The players that we had available played hard. We just had a few too many turnovers that Niagara capitalized on. With our team scoring in the mid 50's, our defensive effort has to be dead on and every turnover and every missed opportunity gets magnified when you are struggling to score."
This was the 29th meeting all-time in the series with Niagara winning 17. Rider defeated Niagara twice during the 2008-09 regular season before the 10th seeded Purple Eagles upset the Broncs 71-67 in the opening round of the MAAC playoffs.
The two teams face each other again at Niagara on February 6.
Rider concludes a four-game home stand by hosting Fairfield at noon in a MAAC game on January 22 as part of its participation in the Kid's Day initiative. Kid's Day Out is a conference wide program that gives local school children the opportunity to experience MAAC Women's Basketball first-hand as part of a field trip through their school. Fairfield is 8-9, 2-4 in the MAAC, having lost at Monhattan 69-53 Monday afternoon. After starting 2-0 in conference play, the Stags have lost four straight.
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