Women's College Basketball
Army West Point 57, Rider University 42

WEST POINT, N.Y.—The Rider University women's basketball team suffered its third loss in a row, losing the battle at Army West Point 57-42 on Sunday afternoon.

“One of our top goals was to finish plays and I don't think we did that on the defensive end,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.  “We gave Army way too many offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities.”

For Rider (2-3), junior Yeliz Dogan (Ismir, Turkey) had 11 points, three rebounds and an assist with junior Robin Perkins (Willingboro/Trenton Catholic) adding 10 points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist.

Army (4-1) jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.

Trailing 11-5, the Broncs scored four straight points, all by junior Julia Duggan (Marmora/Ocean City), cutting the Black Knight lead to 11-9 with 2:44 left in the opening quarter.  Duggan had eight points and seven rebounds, to go along with three assists in 36 minutes of play.

Army led 18-15 at the end of the opening quarter.

Trailing 20-15, Rider used a 7-1 run, five points by Perkins as the Broncs took their only lead of the game, 22-21 with 5:54 left before the half.

Army closed the half on an 11-4 run and led 32-26 at intermission.

Leading 32-28, Army opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to push the Bronc deficit to 40-28, 3:39 into the quarter.

Rider held Army to only four points over the final 5:45 of period three but the Broncs were held scoreless for the final 6:03 of the quarter and trailed 44-31 entering the final 10 minutes.

Two free throws by junior Taylor Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) cut the Black Knight lead to 52-40 with 2:11 left but that was as close as the Broncs would get.  Wentzel finished with those two points in 25 minutes of play.

Rider held Army's Kelsey Minato, the fifth leading scorer in the nation, to 11 points on 4-15 shooting.  Minato entered play averaging 25 points per game.

“I thought we defended their sets well and defended their personnel extremely well,” Milligan said.  “We had a couple of breakdowns that we didn't do a good enough job on.  Those plays really cost us.”

The Black Knights were led by 18 points from Jean Parker with Aimee Oertner compiling five points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in 35 minutes of play.

Army out-rebounded Rider 41-28, including 17-7 on the offensive glass.

Army went 22-60 (37 percent) from the field with Rider shooting 17-48 (35 percent).  The Broncs shot 2-12 from three-point range with Army going 5-14 from long distance.

Rider was a perfect six for six from the free throw line.

The Bronc defense held Army 10 points below its scoring average but Rider struggled on offense and was held 23 points below its average for the season.

Rider leads the all-time series 4-3.  The Black Knights snapped a two-game losing streak to the Broncs.

Army rebounded from its only loss of the season, at nationally ranked Duke on November 22, a game the Black Knights led for almost all of the opening half.

Rider opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Iona College on Friday at 7pm.

-RU-