Lawrenceville, NJ – The Rider University women's basketball team opened the 2017-18 season with a 76-71 setback versus Bucknell inside Alumni Gymnasium on Friday evening.

The Bison (1-0) used an 8-0 fourth quarter run to edge the Broncs (0-1) for the second straight time.

In the first meeting between the two teams since the 2011-12 campaign, Rider jumped out to an early edge. After trading baskets early, the hosts used a 14-0 spurt to lead, 23-9, after 10 minutes of play. The Broncs would not trail again until midway fourth when Bucknell, the Preseason Patriot League favorites, rallied.

Sophomore guard Stella Johnson (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic) scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting to pace the Rider offensive charge. Johnson also added a game-high six steals and three rebounds, while knocking down a pair of three-pointers. Junior point guard Lexi Posset (Pittsburgh, PA/Beaver Area) chipped in 12 points and six assists, while senior Kamila Hoskova (Brno, Czech Republic/Sportvoni Gymazium Ludvika Danka) was the other Bronc in double figures with 11 points.

It was a balanced attack for Bucknell as four different players scored in double figures, highlighted by point guard Kyi English pouring in 17 points. Forward Kaitlyn Slagus had a strong game for the Bison, recording a double-double thanks to a 14-point, 11-rebound performance.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Broncs forced 28 Bucknell turnovers and registered 18 steals.

NOTES & QUOTES
"It's extremely frustrating. Obviously we are very disappointed that we didn't finish the job today, but we saw a lot of great stuff out there. When you have a young team that doesn't have game experience close out that was obvious. We made some bad decisions and put them on the line a ton. Our defensive principles broke down a little bit there in the second half. We are disappointed, but we're also happy with a lot of stuff we saw out there tonight." – Rider Head Coach Lynn Milligan

"We played great defense in the first half. I think we got away from our principles in the second half. We were helping too far under. It's frustrating." – Sophomore Stella Johnson

"I thought we followed our defensive gameplan really well. We made it tough for their posts to get inside touches and I think we did a good job on their perimeters play. I'm not unhappy with this team at all. What we have to do is learn some lessons from this and some hard ones. You're going to learn lessons when you win, but it stinks learning lessons when you lose. Today we were a three and a half quarter team. We have until Sunday to get all four quarters together." - Milligan

- Rider had won their two previous season openers.
- The Broncs were 11-of-20 from the charity stripe, while Bucknell hit 24-of-34 from the foul line.
- Rider was 6-of-25 from three-point range.
- Bucknell made just one FG in the 1st Q and committed 10 turnovers.
- Rider had a 14-0 run in the first quarter to go from trailing by one at 7-6, to leading, 20-7.
- Rider knocked down 5-of-15 shots in the 2nd quarter.
- Rider led by as many as 16 early in the second quarter.
- Bucknell outrebounded Rider, 24-14, in the first half and 46-30 for the game.
- Bucknell hit 4-of-6 from three in the third to get within two baskets heading into the fourth.

Broncs By The Numbers
- Johnson had 10 points in the third quarter.
- Four different Broncs made their debut in front of the home crowd.
-  Hoskova had five steals for the Broncs.
- Aubre Johnson had a team-high six rebounds.
- Freshman Jaiden Morris scored seven points off the bench for the Broncs on 3-of-5 shoot in the first quarter.
- Lexi Stover and Stella Johnson each knocked down a pair of three-point field goals.
- Rider shot 42 percent from the field in the first half and 35 percent in the second half.

UP NEXT
Rider hits the road to take on Navy in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday, November 12, at 4:00 pm. The contest will be the fourth-ever between the Broncs and the USNA. Sunday's tilt will feature live stats and video. For links visit the women's basketball schedule page on GoBroncs.com.