Women's College Basketball - Exhibition Game
West Chester University 65, Rider University 63
LAWRENCEVILLE-Sophomore MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) had a 'double-double' with 13 points and 16 rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Rider University women's basketball team lost to Division II West Chester on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
"This is the reason we schedule West Chester every year," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "They are an excellent team, are well coached and there is a reason why they win over 20 games each season. This is the type of tough test that we needed so we can see what we still need to do to get ready for opening day."
With West Chester leading 59-53 with five minutes remaining, Rider cut the Ram lead to one with 10 seconds left on two free throws by junior Sironda Chambers (Newark, Del./Harcum College). Chambers, a JUCO transfer in her first action for the Broncs, finished with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 minutes of play.
After one free throw by West Chester made the score 65-63, Rider had a chance to tie the game and force overtime but turned the ball over with two seconds remaining.
"Every game is important whether it is an exhibition or not," said McKenzie, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Rookie team as a freshman. "We came in with a positive attitude but some of the little things got us in the end. We'll get back to practice and be ready to go in the next game."
Trailing 55-47 with 6:40 left in the game, Rider went on a 6-0 run, three points by senior Alyssa Parsons (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) to bring the Broncs to within 55-53 at the 5:43 mark. Parsons finished with 10 points in 32 minutes of action.
Trailing 13-12 seven minutes into the game, Rider went on an 8-0 run, two points each by McKenzie, junior Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame), junior Dior Brown (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) and sophomore Alicia Hall (Silver Spring, Md./John F. Kennedy) with the Broncs opening up a seven-point lead (20-13) at the 10:16 mark of the opening half.
Bopp finished with five points and four rebounds, D. Brown had two points in seven minutes off the bench and Hall had five points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 14 minutes.
Trailing 31-22, West Chester took a one-point lead into intermission on the strength of a 12-2 run, four points by Alex Lennon. Lennon finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
"West Chester did a good job mixing up their defenses," said Milligan. "We are going to have to do a better job of recognizing some things and getting better shot opportunities on the offensive end of the floor. We took some really quick shots, especially in the second half."
Also for Rider, freshman Emily Fazzini (Wayne, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) had 10 points (six for six from the free throw line) to go along with three steals in 23 minutes.
"I thought all of the freshmen did a great job," Milligan said. "Emily makes things happen and that's why I had her in the starting line up. She made some mistakes but that is to be expected this early in the year. She struggled shooting so we told her at halftime to make things happen and get to the line and she did. If one facet of your game isn't working, we need all of the players to adjust and try something different."
"You can see the team mature as the game went on and everyone was focused," McKenzie said. "Our freshman played incredible. As a rookie, you have jitters but all of the new players stepped up and played hard. I think all of them will be an asset for us. Now that I'm a sophomore, I'm trying to teach the younger players what I learned from the coaches and help them along in their first season."
Also for West Chester, Paige Elliott had 10 points and five rebounds.
West Chester shot 36.5 percent (27-74) from the field with Rider going 19-62 (30.6 percent). Each team turned the ball over 22 times.
"We need to tighten things up with some of the turnovers," Milligan added.
The Rams out-rebounded Rider 52-43, 23-17 on the offensive glass.
"We are a good rebounding team and I'm disappointed that we got out-rebounded," Milligan said. "Giving up 23 rebounds on the offensive glass was a major issue for us today. We can't give up that many second chance opportunities to any team and West Chester took advantage of that."
The game featured eight ties and nine lead changes with seven of the lead changes coming in the opening 20 minutes.
The Broncs defeated West Chester in overtime, in an exhibition game to open last season and in 2009-10, the game was also a two-point game.
"We always go down to the wire with them," said Milligan. "We want a competitive game and we want to test ourselves. And West Chester does a lot of things that we are going to see from teams on our schedule."
Over 600 fans were in Alumni Gym as the campus celebrated Family Weekend. "The crowd was great, they were into the game and the intensity was good as well," Milligan said about the day. "It was exactly the kind of 'dress rehearsal' we needed and we accomplished everything we needed to except for getting the win at the end."
Rider hosts Lafayette on Friday, November 11 at 7pm in the season opener.
"We are going to get back to practice and fix the things that got exposed," Milligan said. "We will be ready for Friday night."
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