Women's College Basketball
Rider University 74, Saint Peter's College 53
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Junior Cintella Spotwood (Trenton/Trenton Central) had 20 points and seven rebounds with senior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) adding 19 points and five assists as the Rider University women's basketball team broke a four-game losing streak, defeating Saint Peter's 74-53 on Friday night.
"We didn't pressure ourselves," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "There were some games this year where we have been pressing and tonight, for whatever reason we took a collective breath and went out there and did some things. When the first couple of shots drop (Rider opened play making four of its first six shots) obviously you are going to be more confident in the things that you are doing, but more importantly, we stayed disciplined in the things that we wanted to do for the entire 40 minutes. That really was the difference for us."
Rider (4-22, 2-13 MAAC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead, three points by Sepulveda, who played all 40 minutes. "Amanda had one of the best floor games of her career tonight," Milligan said. "All of the work we've done in practice, we are finally starting to see the results of the work in game day situations."
"We worked a lot in practice to break the press," Sepulveda said about the defense that Rider has seen in most games. "Everyone is going to press us and a lot of teams have had success pressing us. I feel that we stayed poised and under control. When we are under control, we play our best."
Sepulveda is now 14th on Rider's career scoring list with 1,095 points, passing Kathleen Kearon (1,094 points from 1998-2002) and Linda DiGuiseppantonio (1,090 points from 1983-87). Sepulveda tied Kara Borel (2004-07) for 12th on the all-time Bronc assist list and has 269.
Saint Peter's cut the Bronc lead to 7-5 before Rider scored six of the next seven, two points each by freshmen Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy), Dior Brown (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) and Spotwood and the Broncs led 13-6, seven minutes into the game. C. Brown finished with six points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals with D. Brown compiling six points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Leading 24-21, the Broncs ended the half on a 10-0 run, six points by Sepulveda and the Broncs went into the locker room up 34-21.
"I think tonight we did a good job of everyone doing their part," Milligan added. "If your part is to cut to the corner, set a screen, or if your part is to get a rebound you have to do your part and I think everybody really stepped up and did that."
After Saint Peter's (10-16, 6-9 MAAC) got to within 38-31 with 15:43 left, Rider used an 18-5 run, six points by Sepulveda and five by Spotwood to put the game out of reach, opening up a 56-36 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
"Obviously when you start making shots you feel good about your game and Cintella took some really good shots tonight," Milligan said. "She got herself in position and did her work early so that when she caught the ball she didn't have a lot of thinking to do. Tonight she made good reads and hit some open threes. She was able to rise and hit some shots over them and to get to the basket. She was a true triple threat tonight and that is what Cintella's capable of. That is something that she has to continue to do."
Spotwood, who shot seven for 12 in the game, was four for four from the free throw line and has now made 13 free throws in a row.
"It was a very good team effort from all of us," Spotwood said. "We were just really hungry to win and we're all very excited. When you make your first couple of shots, your confidence goes way up and you just want to keep shooting the ball. We never forget a loss (at Saint Peter's in January), but we were just really hungry for a win. We are out to win the next three games to end our season and go into the MAAC tournament with a lot of confidence."
Also for the Broncs, freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) had her ninth 'double-double' of the season with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Bopp was seven for seven from the free throw line and as a team, Rider went 19 for 19 from the charity stripe, including 13 for 13 in the second half.
"We talk about focusing on the line and that every shot is important," Milligan said. "Whether you are taking your 50th shot of the day in practice or a one and one at the end of a game, they are free points and we had to capitalize on that. We did a great job on making free throws and we went to the stripe 19 times. We were a little bit more in attack mode then last game (seven for nine against Loyola on February 14). Getting there was the first big plus of the game and then to make them was even better."
Bopp entered the game third in the nation among rookies in rebounds per game and is 34th overall averaging 9.8 rebounds per game.
Sepulveda, who made five three-pointers in the game, leads the MAAC and is 39th nationally averaging 2.6 three-pointers per game.
"That is what you need from your point guard, (five assists and only two turnovers)," said Milligan. "I told Amanda today after our shoot around that she only has four regular season games left. What do you want people to remember this season for? What do you want this team to be remembered for? You have to play every forty (minutes) like it is your last. I think she took that to heart tonight."
Saint Peter's had defeated Rider 10 straight times with the last Bronc win over the Peahens coming on February 5, 2005 in Jersey City. Saint Peter's defeated the Broncs 55-38 earlier this season (January 5).
"It is not the revenge factor as much as when we played them the first time we were struggling, turning the ball over a lot (27 turnovers) so we have grown since then," Milligan said. "We have taken steps everyday this season. We have also grown up a lot more since then. We played the four freshman a ton of minutes tonight and they are starting to understand things a little bit better."
The Broncs out-rebounded Saint Peter's 42-36 and Rider shot 44 percent from the field, including seven for 15 from beyond the arc.
"We talked about being excited and how this feels to win this game," Milligan said. "I also want the team to understand why we won the game. Understand what you did together as a team to win this game. It is something that we preach everyday, but it has been a long time coming. It was a game that we have been scratching at and just about getting there a number of times this year. I feel really good for the players that they are sticking to what we are doing and sticking to how we do things here at Rider and what we want to be about. Tonight, they saw the reward."
Rider travels to Fairfield for a MAAC game at 1:00pm on Sunday.
"They (Fairfield) have obviously been very successful in our conference," said Milligan. "We are going to have to go up there again and really defend them. They shoot the ball extremely well. They run a lot of sets. They play good hard nose defense and it is going to come down to execution at both ends of the floor. We are going to have to go up there and be ready."
"I think that the major thing is that teams are sleeping on us," Sepulveda said. "They think this is Rider and they have only won three or four games now and they are just taking us lightly and we have to use that and just go out and play. You do not have to play fast, we just have to play under control and play our game. We want to win the last couple of games and go into the MAAC tournament ready to play and who says we can't take MAAC's? It is up in the air right now. We just have to play hard and we will be fine."
Rider won for the first time at Fairfield 51-46 last season. This year, the Stags defeated Rider in Lawrenceville 51-45 on January 22. The Stags are 14-12, 8-7 in the MAAC after defeating second place Iona 72-59 on Friday night.
The game was Rider's annual participation in the WBCA Pink Zone effort to raise donations and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
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