Women's Basketball
Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 6:00 pm
Rider Broncs (0-0, 0-0 MAAC) vs. Lafayette Leopards (0-1, 0-0 Patriot)
Location: Alumni Gym (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Tip: 6:00 pm
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoBroncs.com
Twitter: @RiderWBB
 
What You Need To Know
- Saturday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
- The Broncs were picked to finish 13^th by the league's coaches in the preseason poll. The Broncs will have to deal with the loss of four starters from last year's team, including the loss of 80.4% of the team's scoring from a season ago.
 
- Thursday's game will be the first for Rider under new Head Coach Jackie Hartzell. Hartzell comes to Lawrenceville from Arcadia University, where she posted a 54-26 record and was named the MAC Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season. Prior to her time at Arcadia, Hartzell produced a 185-57 record in eight seasons at University of the Sciences, highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 in 2018, after which she was named the HERO Sports Women's Basketball Division II National Coach of the Year. Rider's sixth coach in the Division I Era, the previous five coaches were 2-3 in their debuts with Eldon Price topping Saint Francis 100-55 and Lynn Milligan defeating Monmouth 59-46 for the Broncs' victories.
 
- Aliya McIver (White Plains, NY/White Plains) did a little bit of everything against FDU, setting then career-highs in points (9), rebounds (11), and assists (8). The sophomore had five points, six rebounds, and five assists in the second half that saw both teams score 31 points. She then had a career game in the season finale last year at Niagara. In her final game as a sophomore, McIver set career highs with 11 points and 12 rebounds for her first career double-double, and Rider's lone double-double of the 2024-25 season. McIver ranked in the top ten in the MAAC in both assists and assist to turnover ratio last season.
 
- Emmy Roach (Littlehampton, Australia/Heathfield) was thrust into extended minutes due to injury last season and responded, with the then-freshman setting a career-high with 10 points against Saint Peter's, then tying her career best with six rebounds in two-straight games earlier last season.
 
- The Broncs roster is one of the most unique in the country, featuring zero seniors and just one graduate student in transfer Kristina Ekofo (Brussels, Belgium/Établissement Des Soeurs De Notre Dame[Northeastern Oklahoma A&M/North Dakota State University]), who joins the Broncs following two seasons each at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and North Dakota State University and has impressed thus far in the preseason. Despite the youth movement, the Broncs do have a veteran presence with incoming transfer junior Deb Okechukwu (Washington, DC/Archbishop Carroll[CCBC - Essex/Harcum CC]) following a season at both CCBC - Essex and Harcum CC, and returners McIver and Kaylan Deveney (Medford, NJ/Life Center Academy), who have both played over 50 games in Cranberry and Gray. The Broncs also feature one of the most unique schedules in the country, playing three games in four days that are all true road contests and not a part of an MTE, when the Broncs visit Boston College, Stonehill, and Bryant.
 
- Rider's incoming freshman class features a pair of Spaniards in Aina Perez Mesquida (Manacor, Spain/IES CTEIB) and Claudia Lazaro-Carrasco (Madrid, Spain/Ortega y Gasset). Perez Mesquida is projected to be in the starting lineup after winning a gold medal at the Balearic U16 Championships, competing as a member of the Spanish National U17 3x3 Team, and being a part of the 2023-24 Spanish Junior Club Championship Team. Lazaro-Carrasco spent the last three years playing for the Torrelondes Team in the Junior Special Gold Category and was the Player of the Community for Madrid Team in 2021 and 23.
 
- The freshman class is rounded out by a pair of domestic products, Daniya Brown (Fairfax, VA/Bishop O'Connell) and Alena Cofield (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy). Brown, 5-7 guard from Fairfax, VA was a Second-Team All-WCAC selection, who averaged 14 points and four steals as a senior at Bishop O'Connell High School. Cofield was a one-time First-Team SOL and one time Second-Team SOL honoree who earned Division MVP honors as a member of the SOL Division Championship team.
 
- Lafayette leads the all-time series 23-11, but the teams have not met in nearly a decade with the last matchup coming during the 2017-18 season. In that game, Rider's Stella Johnson had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double, but the Leopards came away with a 60-45 win.

-  The Leopards finished last season 10-21 overall and 6-12 in Patriot League play. Lafayette loses their leading scorer from last season in Abby Antognoli, due to graduation, but does return its second, third, and fourth leading scorer from a year ago in now-seniors Kay Donahue and Sauda Ntaconayigize and now-junior Teresa Kiewiet. The Leopards opened the 2025-26 campaign Monday at Villanova, falling 70-38.