Women's College Basketball
Rider University 93, Iona College 87 (2ot)
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Super Bowl Sunday was certainly super for the Rider University women's basketball team. Playing in front of over 1,100 fans, junior Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) had a 'double-double' of 19 points and 20 rebounds, both career highs and freshman MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) had a 'double-double' of a career-high 19 points while pulling down 14 rebounds as the Broncs posted a thrilling, come from behind 93-87 double overtime Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win over Iona.
The game featured 11 ties and 14 lead changes.
"I am so proud of our kids," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "This is a team that absolutely annihilated us by 30 points and it wasn't even that close, a couple of weeks ago. For us to come back and put this effort together and have so many different players just step up and do all of the little things that we talk about every day, I really couldn't be more proud."
Tied at 80 with 2:56 left in the second overtime, Rider (3-20, 3-9 MAAC) went on a 5-0 run, three points by junior Ali Heller (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews) giving the Broncs an 85-80 lead. Heller, who leads the nation in three point field goal percentage, had a career-high 15 points while adding a career-high seven rebounds.
Iona (9-15, 5-7 MAAC) cut the Broncs lead to four points twice, including 91-87 with 12 seconds left on a three-pointer by Jackie Marshall who finished with 17 points on five three-point field goals.
Tied at 65 at the end of regulation, the Gaels opened the first o.t. on a 9-1 run, five points by Marshall to lead 74-66 with 3:07 left.
Trailing 76-68 at the 2:08 mark, Rider ended the first extra session on an 8-0 run, five points by sophomore Shereen Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton) who made three free throws with 0.3 seconds left to tie the score at 78 and force another five minutes of play. Lightbourne tied a career-high with 17 points in the game.
"When I realized I had an opportunity to make three free throws I was very excited but also calm," said Lightbourne who played 39 minutes despite battling a migraine. "I told myself 'just like practice' and I just zoned out, as if I actually was in practice. I always dreamed of a situation like this, with barely any time left on the clock and we need ALL the free throws to win."
"This was just a total team effort," Milligan said. "You really can't describe it in any other way. Everyone that got a look did what they needed to do. McKenzie was unbelievable tonight and Homan stepped up and played unbelievable. I can go right on down the line. It is an exciting, good win for us."
Trailing 52-46 with 7:46 left in regulation, Rider went on a 12-3 run, five points by McKenzie to take a 58-55 lead with 4:46 left in the second half.
Trailing 65-64, McKenzie made the second of two free throws with 28.4 seconds left to tie the game at 65 and force the first overtime.
Rider held the Gaels without a field goal for the first three minutes of the game but were only able to build a 3-0 early first half lead.
With Iona leading 18-13, the Broncs ended the opening half on a 12-5 run, four points each by Lightbourne and Bopp and Rider led 25-23 at intermission.
Also for the Broncs, red-shirt sophomore Alyssa Parsons (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) had 14 points, two assists and two steals with sophomore Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) adding nine points and eight rebounds before fouling out. Bopp now has 423 career rebounds, 19th best all-time at Rider.
Iona was led by Anda Ivkovic who had 18 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Rider entered play averaging 50.5 points per game and the 93 points are 23 more than the previous season high 70 scored against Saint Peter's on January 15.
This was the 31st meeting between Rider and Iona with the Broncs winning 12 times. Iona won the first meeting of the season on January 21, 92-61 in New Rochelle, New York.
"We are all exited and relieved that our hard work was finally rewarded with such a big win as this one," said Homan. "This game was a revenge game and we wanted to show Iona that we wouldn't be walked over and that Rider can be a force to be reckoned with."
Homan's 20 rebounds are the most since Jessica Beck pulled down 21 boards at Monmouth on January 6, 1996 and Homan moved into 20th place all-time on Rider's career rebound list with 418.
The Broncs held a 60-41 advantage on the glass and Rider had 20 offensive rebounds in the contest.
Rider shot 43 percent for the game (27-63) with Iona shooting 33 percent (25-77).
Rider entered the game making 57.2 percent from the foul line but made 72.3 percent in the game. The Broncs made 34 free throws (out of 47 attempts) with the Gaels going 25-37 from the charity stripe. Rider made 18 of 23 free throws in the two overtimes.
The Broncs snapped a five-game losing streak and Iona has lost two straight, both in overtime. Iona's last three of four games have gone into overtime.
Rider last scored 93 points in a game against St. Francis (N.Y.) on February 3, 1994 in a 93-65 win.
The Broncs are 2-0 in overtime this season including a 70-69 win over Saint Peter's on January 15, 2011. In four seasons under Milligan, Rider has won five of seven overtime games.
The Broncs last played a double overtime game on February 11, 1993 when the Broncs lost to Marist 78-75 in a Northeast Conference game.
Over 1,100 fans packed Alumni Gym as Rider celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day for the 15th straight year. Rider graduate Jen Dahl '97 served as the guest speaker. Dahl, who played softball and led Rider to its first NCAA appearance, was inducted into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame in January, 2005.
"Today's celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day was a phenomenal event," Milligan added. "To have all of those girls cheering for us, we were able to use their energy to swing the momentum back to us in some crucial situations. The crowd was awesome today."
Rider hosts Fairfield on February 12 at 2pm in a MAAC game. The Broncs lost to the Stags 64-51 on January 30. Fairfield lost 54-52 at home against first place Marist on Sunday to drop to 8-4 in the conference.
"We have to use this win the right way," Milligan said. "Fairfield is another revenge game for us. We played okay at Fairfield, but not well enough to win the game. We have some days to rest, but it is important that we do use today as a stepping stone. This is not a fluke. We are capable of playing this way even with a young team and with some of the adversity that we have gone through. We always talk about learning to rise to the occasion and to rise to the challenge and today we did that."
Making it a Super Sunday on Super Bowl Sunday for the Broncs.
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