LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University women's basketball team survived a near buzzer-beater before bouncing back in overtime to defeat Mount St. Mary's, 68-59, Thursday afternoon on ESPNU. The Broncs improve to 8-19 overall and 5-13 in MAAC play. The Mountaineers fall to 10-16 on the season, and 6-11 in league games.
Rider fed off the energy of the sold-out crowd, jumping out to an 8-2 lead, including four points from
Makayla Firebaugh (Winchester, VA/James Wood). The Mount scored the final four points of the quarter, but the Broncs would hold a 13-12 lead after one.
The Mount continued the rally to begin the second, scoring five straight and extending the run to 9-0 to take a 17-13 lead. Tied 24-24, the Mountaineers scored five-straight, but a
Molly Lynch three-pointer cut the deficit to just two at the half, 29-27.
Out of the break, Rider scored five more to make it an 8-0 extended run, capped by an
Amanda Mobley (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh) three, taking back the lead at 32-29. Tied 40-40 late in the quarter, Mobley made a driving layup that put Rider up 42-40 with 10 minutes to play.
Down 45-44, Rider went on a 9-3 run midway through the fourth, including four points from
Raphaela Toussaint (Kingston, Ontario/Lincoln Prep) to build a 53-48 lead. The Mount immediately responded with a 5-0 run, tying the game on a layup with 21.6 seconds remaining. The Mountaineers briefly believed they had the game won, with a layup as time expired, but after review the shot went up late, and the game extended to the extra session.
Down 55-53 in overtime, Rider scored seven-straight points, including a layup and a later free throw from
Victoria Toomey (Dunmore, PA/Dunmore). Firebaugh was 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch to ice the victory.
Quotes & Notes
"Super happy with the result today. We really gutted it out when we had to. Overtime, I thought was terrific, we really regained our composure. For most of the game we played really solid defense."
"We've been in [overtime] before this year. The way regulation ended, we could have allowed that to knock us down. We need to move on, we need to be in the now. We need to be where our feet are for these next five minutes, and we did that, even when they scored first."
"The energy in the gym was fantastic. Our administration, Ronan, Karin, and everybody that helped today, I can't thank them enough. It was amazing atmosphere, there wasn't a gap anywhere."
– Head Coach Lynn Milligan
"Kids games are always fun. We obviously haven't had one since my sophomore year, so just the atmosphere and all the kids screaming that they love us and great game. This is definitely the most fun game we've had all season."
– Graduate Guard Amanda Mobley
"We were confident that the refs were going to come back and say it was no good, so we just moved on to the next five minutes."
"We've been in this position before in the season where we've gone to overtime and lost momentum. Today the mindset was putting our foot on the gas and never letting up."
– Senior Forward Victoria Toomey
- The Broncs and Mountaineers split the season series and the Mount now leads the all-time series 19-7.
- Firebaugh led all scorers with 18 points, her 18
th game in double figures. She also added a career-high 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.
- Toussaint added 16 points and 10 boards for her third-straight double-double and sixth of the season.
- Toomey reached double figures for the 11
th time this year, finishing with 16.
- Rider is now 2-1 in overtime games this season.
Broncs By The Numbers
- Rider shot 36.4% (24-66) from the field, and 16.0% (4-25) from three. The Mountaineers shot 32.3% (21-65) from the floor, and went 28.6% (6-21) from behind the arc.
- Rider held a 46-42 advantage on the glass, including a slim 8-7 lead in offensive boards. Firebaugh's 11 boards paced the Broncs.
- The Broncs had 14 assists on their 24 made baskets, led by six from Mobley.
- Toomey had four of Rider's eight blocks.
Up Next
- Rider is off until next Thursday when the Broncs visit Manhattan for a game at 7 p.m.
