Women's College Basketball - Preseason WNIT
St. Francis Brooklyn 71, Rider University 60

TOWSON, Md.—Despite 20 points from red-shirt sophomore Robin Perkins (Willingboro/Trenton Catholic), the Rider University women's basketball team lost 71-60 to St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the Preseason WNIT consolation round, hosted by Towson University.

Perkins played 30 minutes and added six rebounds.

Tied 45-45, St. Francis went on a 16-2 run, with the Terriers taking a 61-47 lead with 3:18 left in the contest.

“We lost a little momentum with our fouling in the second half,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.  “We got stagnant and also missed a lot of shots.  We are going to keep working until we find our identity.  We played a good 30 minutes and we are still looking for a complete 40 minute effort.”

Tied 34-34, red-shirt junior Emily Fazzini (Wayne, Pa./Archbishop Carroll)  hit a jumper to put the Broncs in the lead 36-34 before the Terriers responded with a 6-0 run to re-take the lead 40-34.  Fazzini finished with 11 points and four rebounds in 32 minutes.

Trailing 42-38, Rider rallied to tie the game at 45 with 9:53 left using a 7-3 run, three points by freshman Kamila Hoskova (Czech Republic/SSMH Brno).  Hoskova had five points and three rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

Rider (0-3) opened the game with a 9-2 run, five points by Perkins, 3:22 into the contest.

The Terriers responded with their own 9-2 run to tie the score 11-11 with 13:13 left in the opening half.

Trailing 18-17, Rider used a 6-0 run, two points each by senior Lashay Banks (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter), Hoskova and Fazzini as the Broncs led 23-18 with 7:33 remaining in the opening period.  Banks had 10 points in the contest and pulled down six rebounds, four on the offensive glass in 31 minutes of play to go along with two blocks and two steals.

The Terriers used a 7-0 run to go back into the lead 25-23 with 3:45 left in the first half.

The teams went into the locker room tied at 32-32.

St. Francis Brooklyn held a 40-33 rebounding advantage. 

Rider was a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line with St. Francis shooting 29-33 from the charity stripe.

“I thought us fouling on defense and giving up too many offensive rebounds is what hurt us,” Milligan said.

Rider out-shot the Terriers 36 percent (22-61) to 33 percent (18-55).

“We have a lot of veteran players in new roles and the shots aren't dropping,” Milligan added.  “We need to continue to put the players in good situations and to be aggressive in what we do.”

The game had 10 ties and 10 lead changes with Rider leading for 15:23 and St. Francis in the lead for 18:20.

Also for the Broncs, sophomore Julia Duggan (Marmora/Ocean City) had six points and seven rebounds, playing 19 minutes before fouling out with junior Manon Pellet (Marseille, France/Montpellier Academy) adding eight points, four assists and two steals in 34 minutes of play.

“Our bigs were in foul trouble the entire game,” Milligan said.

Former Northeast Conference rivals, St. Francis defeated Rider for only the fifth time in 26 tries but the Terriers have won two straight over the Broncs.  The teams last met on December 29, 2012 when St. Francis won 58-55 in Lawrenceville.

Rider lost at Seton Hall and at Towson in the Preseason WNIT prior to today's game. 

“We are disappointed that we lost all three,” Milligan said.  “We are excited that we got invited and we wanted to represent Rider and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference a little better but being in a tournament atmosphere and playing back to back days, all of those things are going to help us.  It is a long season and we will be fine.  We are proud to be in the tournament and we want the high expectations that come with representing the conference on a national level.”

Rider opens the home portion of the schedule against Lafayette on Tuesday at 7pm in Alumni Gymnasium.

“We are excited to play in front of our fans and for them to see who we are,” Milligan said.  “We want everyone to come out and see us.”

-RU-