Women's College Basketball
University of Pennsylvania 66, Rider University 57
PHILADELPHIA, Pa.--The comeback would have been as historic as the building they were playing in.
Trailing by 24 points with 11:42 left in the game, the Rider University women's basketball team mounted a furious comeback, cutting the Penn Quaker lead to seven before losing 66-57 on Saturday afternoon at The Palestra in Philadelphia.
The Penn Quakers (2-0) opened the game on a 10-0 run in the first two minutes, going three for three from the field while adding two free throws.
"Penn came out 'hot as heck' shooting the ball," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "We couldn't stop them defensively and they also disrupted our offense early on. We kind of let things get away from us early on and spent the rest of the game battling back."
The Broncs turned the ball over on their first three possessions and didn't attempt a shot until 2:26 had been played.
Rider (2-1) was led by sophomore MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) who scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds (seven offensive) for her seventh career 'double-double' and second of the season.
"MyNeshia's maturity level improves with each game," said Milligan. "Mac is starting to understand how hard is it to be a 'great' player every day and how much work that entails. She is buying in to what we are trying to do and that is paying off for her."
Trailing by 10, McKenzie got the Broncs on the board with a layup three minutes into the contest.
A three-pointer by senior Ali Heller (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews) and layup by senior Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) brought Rider to within five (12-7) at the 14:51 mark of the opening half.
Heller finished with three points, three assists and two rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench with Homan adding four points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.
After junior Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) cut the Penn lead to 20-14, the Quakers went on a 14-0 run, six points by Alyssa Baron, putting Penn ahead 34-14 with 6:24 left in the opening period. Baron led the Quakers with a career-high 30 points on 11 of 19 shooting.
"I thought our defensive effort was lacking in the first 20 minutes," Milligan said. "Penn got some easy looks (open three-pointers) and we didn't really have good ball pressure. That cost us."
Penn led 45-22 at the half as the Quakers shot 55 percent from the field and caused 12 Rider turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The Quakers made seven three-pointers, all in the opening half.
McKenzie scored Rider's first five points of the second half and the Broncs cut the Quaker lead to 16 (49-33) on a three-pointer by freshman Emily Fazzini (Wayne, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) and a free throw by Bopp with 14:06 left in the game. Bopp, who finished with nine points and seven rebounds (four offensive), got to the line, grabbing three straight offensive rebounds on the possession.
"Caitlin grabbing three offensive rebounds in a row was pure hustle," Milligan said. "That was a turning point and the best effort of the day. That is the kind of basketball that we want to play."
Rider had 16 second chance points in the game. Fazzini finished with five points in 21 minutes off the bench.
"We challenged the team at halftime to come out and play Rider basketball in the final 20 minutes," said Milligan. "I'm proud that we battled back. The game could have gotten out of hand quickly and we made sure that didn't happen. That was a positive step for us."
Penn used an 8-0 run to increase its lead to 24 (57-33) before the Broncs cut the Quaker lead back down to 14 (57-43) with 7:28 left on a 10-0 run, four points by McKenzie.
Two free throws, a layup and two steals by junior Sironda Chambers (Newark, Del./Harcum College) and a Bopp layup brought Rider to within nine (60-51) with 4:41 left.
Chambers finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals in 31 minutes.
"Sironda is a special player," Milligan said. "The good news is that you haven't seen her best yet. "She is very talented and once she finds her rhythm at this level, she will do some special things for us. She has an even keel and a calmness about her that really helps settle things down for us."
Penn's defense stiffened with the Broncs missing their next four shots while also turning the ball over twice over the next three minutes.
Two free throws by McKenzie cut the Quaker lead to seven (62-55) with 22.6 seconds left but the Quakers made four of five free throws to clinch the win.
"We felt that if we got the lead down to single-digits, we would have a chance to win the game," said Milligan. "We kind of stalled when we got it down to nine. The positive is that we have character and we battled back when we got down. It is important that we didn't quit. That shows me that we have character."
Rider out-scored the Quakers 35-21 in the final 20 minutes.
Penn shot 46 percent for the game (24-52) with Rider shooting 31 percent (18-59).
Also for the Quakers, Jess Knapp had 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks, playing 39 of 40 minutes.
Rider out-rebounded Penn 43-30 and held a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
Both teams shot well from the charity stripe with Penn making 11 of 15 (73 percent) and Rider converting 15 of 18 attempts (83 percent).
Penn leads the all-time series 8-3. The Quakers defeated Rider in Lawrenceville 60-45 on November 23, 2010. Rider defeated the Quakers at The Palestra on December 12, 2009 by a 66-53 score.
"We are going to learn from this," Milligan said. "Today was a step in the process and really a good step. Things could have gotten out of hand and gone very much the other way in a hurry and we didn't let that happen."
The Broncs saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.
Rider hosts defending Ivy League champion Princeton on Sunday, November 27 at 2pm in Alumni Gymnasium on the Lawrenceville campus.
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