Lawrenceville, NJ – Junior point guard Lexi Posset (Pittsburgh, PA/Beaver Area) scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Rider University women's basketball team past visiting Niagara, 65-58, on Thursday in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action inside Alumni Gymnasium.

Posset scored more than 20 points in a game for the second time this season and the third time in her career thanks to knocking down 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. Two other players scored in double figures for the Broncs.

Rider (7-11, 4-3 MAAC) has now won four of their last five conference games, while the Purple Eagles (7-11, 4-3 MAAC) saw their three-game MAAC winning streak come to an end.

Sophomore guard Stella Johnson (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic) and senior Kamila Hoskova (Brno, Czech Republic/Sportovni Gymnazium Ludvika Danka) were the other Broncs to reach double figures. Johnson scored 11 points and Hoskova poured in 10.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Rider closed the first half on a 10-2 run over the final 3:27 of the second quarter to take a 30-21 edge into halftime. During the spurt, the Broncs held Niagara without a made field goal and forced a pair of turnovers.

The Purple Eagles cut the Bronc deficit to seven at the end of the third quarter with Rider taking a 47-40 advantage into the final 10 minutes.

Niagara made it one possession game at 51-48 with six and a half minutes left to play before Stella Johnson scored on a drive and then got a steal and a bucket on the next possession to stretch the lead back to seven at 55-48. The two teams would trade points down the stretch and Rider was able to hold on thanks to hitting 5-of-6 at the foul line down the stretch.   

NOTES & QUOTES
"I'm glad this game was at home. Today we gutted out a really tough win. I don't think we had our best stuff, but what we had was enough. We did a good job defensively taking away their strong post players. Aubre did a great job defensively on Rampado, especially in the first quarter. Aubre's physical, she's a strong player."  - Rider Head Coach Lynn Milligan

"Having the crowd here for a Kid's Day game brings a lot of energy especially with it being an 11:00 am tip. They being the energy and we feed off of that." ­– Junior point guard Lexi Posset

- The win was the fourth straight for Rider against Niagara after the Broncs swept the regular-season series a year ago.
- Niagara leads the all-time series, 25-21.
- The Broncs have won four of their last five conference games after starting league play 0-2.
- Niagara is the first MAAC team this season to outscore Rider in the third quarter. They had 19 points in the frame compared to 17 for the Broncs.
- Rider shot a season-best 93.8 percent (15-of-16) from the foul line.
- Entering the game, Niagara led the MAAC in foul shooting. They shot just over 68 percent (15-of-22) at the charity stripe on Thursday.
- The Broncs hit six shots from beyond the arc, while the Purple Eagles were just 1-of-10 from deep.     

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- In the fourth quarter, Stella Johnson had six points and three steals. On the day she finished with three steals, three assists and two rebounds to go along with her 11 points. It was Stella's 10th game this year with three or more steals. She hit 4-of-8 FG attempts on the day.
- Hoskova ended up two rebounds shy of a double-double. She closed with 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal. She was 5-of-11 shooting.
- Sophomore Aubre Johnson battled in the post all day. She closed with two points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.
- Posset's 11 free throws made were a new career-high. In MAAC play this season, she is averaging over 14 points per game.
- Lexi Stover added eight points for the Broncs.
- Freshman Daija Moses pulled down a career-high six rebounds.
- Tracey Goodman finished with six points on 3-of-5 shooting off the bench.

UP NEXT
Rider returns to action on Sunday, January 21, with a road contest at Marist that is slated to get underway at 2:00 pm inside McCann Arena. The Broncs are looking to avenge an 80-69 setback at home versus the Red Foxes on December 30. Sunday's tilt will feature live stats as well as audio and video feeds. For the links visit the women's basketball schedule page on GoBroncs.com.