Women's College Basketball
Fairfield University 66, Rider University 55
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Freshman MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)), who was the MAAC Rookie of the Week last week, had her second 'double-double' in a row (14 points, 10 rebounds) but it wasn't enough as the Rider University women's basketball lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Fairfield on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 44-35, Rider (3-21, 3-10 MAAC) scored 14 of the next 22 points, five points by red-shirt sophomore Alyssa Parsons (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) to cut the Stag lead to three at 52-49 with 6:59 left but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Parsons finished with five points in the game.
"Our rotation today wasn't where we wanted it with Caitlin (Bopp) and Sarah (Homan), getting five fouls in the first five minutes. That did not help our offensive flow at all today. We got pretty stagnant offensively and made some bad decisions. We didn't shoot the ball poorly, we just didn't get enough shots because we were too stagnant. We have to do a better job of that when our rotations change, we have to do a better job of working ourselves to get some better shots."
Rider shot 45.8 percent (22-48) from the field compared to Fairfield at 45.5 percent (25-55)
Fairfield (16-8, 9-4 MAAC) responded with an 11-0 run, eight points by Taryn Johnson to lead 63-49 with 1:25 left. Johnson, the two-time reigning MAAC Player of the Week, finished with 15 points and six rebounds.
"Taryn Johnson, if she not the best post player in the league right now I don't know who is," Milligan said. "She is terrific. She is an athletic player, is strong, works hard and is relentless on the boards and she out toughed us today. She used her speed when she had a bigger kid on her today. She is very smart with how she scores and she gives herself a lot of opportunities."
Trailing 8-6 with 15:38 left in the opening half, the Broncs took a 10-8 lead, two points each by McKenzie and sophomore Shereen Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton). Lightbourne finished with 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds.
Tied at 21, the Stags went on an 8-0 run, six points by Brittany MacFarlane and led 29-21 with 2:06 left in the opening half before a Lightbourne three-point play made it 29-24 Fairfield at intermission. MacFarlane finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
There were eight ties and five lead changes in the game, all in the opening half.
Also for the Broncs, junior Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) had 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks.
Fairfield was led by Katelyn Linney who finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Each team had 32 rebounds in the game with Fairfield causing 19 Bronc turnovers, leading to 15 Stag points.
This was the 31st meeting between Fairfield and Rider with the Stags winning 28 times. Fairfield won in Connecticut 64-51 over the Broncs on January 30 to sweep the season series.
The game was Rider's participation in the WBCAs Pink Zone initative where the Broncs wore special warm up shirts and Rider Athletics collected donations in support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to combat breast cancer in conjunction with the ZTA sorority.
Rider hosts Siena on Monday night at 7pm in a MAAC game at Alumni Gym. Siena (7-6 MAAC), which defeated the Broncs 53-42 on January 8, began a four-game road trip with a 67-64 overtime loss at Loyola Maryland Saturday.
"We have to be ready for Siena," Milligan added. "We have to bounce back from this and learn from some of the mistakes that we made on the offensive end and get things clicking a little bit better. We need to be ready come Monday night."
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