Women's College Basketball
Loyola College Maryland 64, Rider University 50
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
BALTIMORE, Md.-Playing in her home town, Rider University women's basketball freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) had her fourth career 'double-double' with a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Broncs lost at Loyola in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday afternoon at Reitz Arena.
Coming off a knee injury suffered last week at Manhattan, Bopp, a two-time MAAC Rookie of the Week, logged 25 minutes off the bench after missing the game at Saint Peter's. This was Bopp's second 'double-double' in a row.
"I had no doubts about Caitlin getting back on the court," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "When she says she is ready to go, she is. She is a tough, tough competitor."
Trailing 29-28, Loyola (7-7, 2-1 MAAC) scored 17 of the next 23 points to open up a 10 point lead (45-35) with 9:09 left in the contest, the 10th and final lead change of the game.
"We shot the ball better today and worked the ball inside," said Milligan. "We need to stop turning the ball over."
The Broncs out-rebounded Loyola 43-31 but committed 26 turnovers. The 'Hounds had 16 steals.
"We had a few unforced turnovers that Loyola capitalized on," Milligan added. "It is stuff we talk about every day, watch on film every day and work on every day. We need to do a better job. That is the bottom line." Loyola scored 25 of its points off of Rider turnovers.
The Broncs cut the 'Hound lead to eight with 5:40 left on a jumper by Bopp but that was a close as Rider would get.
Loyola opened the game on an 11-2 run and held Rider (2-12, 0-3 MAAC) without a field goal until Bopp scored a layup with 15:35 left in the first half.
Trailing 11-2, Rider went on a 17-0 run, six points each by Bopp and sophomore Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) taking a 19-11 lead with 8:20 left in the opening period. Homan finished with eight points, all in the first half in 14 minutes off the bench.
The 'Hounds re-took the lead with a 10-0 run, 21-19 with seven minutes left in the first half.
Trailing 26-21, the Broncs ended the half, scoring the last six points (three points by Bopp) and took a 27-26 lead into intermission. This was the fifth time that Rider has led at the half and the Broncs are 1-4 in those games.
Rider went 1-16 from three-point range with senior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) scoring her only three points of the game with 37 seconds left continuing Rider's streak of 83 games in a row with a field goal from beyond the arc.
Sepulveda, who is second in the MAAC in minutes played, picked up her fourth foul two minutes into the second half and played a season-low 29 minutes. "Having Amanda out of the game for that long in the second half was something new for us," Milligan said. "We got out of our offensive flow when she came out of the game. We need to help Amanda out more. She is facing a double-team all 94 feet of the court and she is only human."
Also for Rider, freshman Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) had nine points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 26 minutes.
"Carleigh is a Northeast Philly kid who knows no other way than to play hard," Milligan said. "We are trying to get everyone to have that mentality and make that the style of Rider women's basketball. Having two freshmen post players, Bopp (19 points, 11 rebounds) and C. Brown (nine points, nine rebounds) with those kinds of numbers, those are good signs."
The game was Loyola's participation in Kid's Day Out, an NCAA initiative where each team invites elementary, middle and high schools in the area to a day game as part of a field trip to the colleges and universities around the nation. With all 10 MAAC schools participating, Rider will host Kid's Field Trip Day on January 22 against Fairfield at noon.
The 'Hounds make the return trip to Lawrenceville on February 14 at 2pm.
This was the 34th meeting between the schools with Loyola winning 26 times. The teams split the two meetings in 2008-09 with each team winning on its home court.
Rider has lost five in a row and the Broncs host defending MAAC champion Marist on Monday at 7pm in Alumni Gym. "They are playing terrific and are very balanced," Milligan said of the Red Foxes. Rachael Fitz is the MAAC Player of the Year for a reason but they also have a tremendous supporting cast."
The Red Foxes (11-4, 3-0 MAAC) defeated Fairfield 70-63 Friday night.
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