EMMITSBURG, MD – The Rider University women's basketball team saw its season come to an end Saturday afternoon, falling at Mount St. Mary's, 54-46. The Broncs fall to 7-22 on the season, and 5-15 in MAAC play, while the Mountaineers improve to 15-14 on the year, and 11-9 in league play.
 
Down 6-2 early, Deb Okechukwu (Washington, DC/Archbishop Carroll [CCBC-Essex/Harcum CC]) made a layup before Kristina Ekofo (Brussels, Belgium/ Établissement Des Soeurs De Notre Dame[North Dakota State University/Northeastern Oklahoma A&M]) made back-to-back buckets to give Rider the 8-6 lead. A three by Kaylan Deveney (Medford, NJ/Life Center Academy) would put Rider up 11-10 after the opening 10 minutes.
 
Trailing 18-17 midway through the second, Aliya McIver (White Plains, NY/White Plains), Sam Richardson (Linden, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep), and Ekofo made baskets for a 6-0 run that gave Rider back the lead. The Mount would counter with the final five points of the second to send the game to the locker room tied 23-23.
 
The Mount would score the first six points out of the break before Ekofo and Aina Perez Mesquida (Manacor, Spain/IES CTEIB) scored to trim the deficit to 29-27, when Mount St. Mary's went on a 7-0 run and carried a 38-33 lead into the fourth.
 
Down 42-34, the Broncs got to within three thanks to a pair of Ekofo free throws, followed by a corner three out of the hands of Perez Mesquida, but the Mount answered with back-to-back threes to extend the lead once again to 48-39. Ekofo would score three and Okechuckwu added two during a 5-0 run that got Rider within four at 48-44, but the Broncs would get no closer.
 
Quotes & Notes
"I thought we played really well. We played hard. I can't think of a bad shot we took in the game, unfortunately, we just didn't make enough of them. We gave a great effort on both ends of the floor, it just wasn't enough. There were a lot of ups and downs this season, some tough moments, and some good things we want to build on. I'm definitely not happy only winning seven games, and that will not be the standard moving forward." – Head Coach Jackie Hartzell
 
- The Mount earns the season sweep and leads the all-time series 25-7.
- Ekofo led all scorers with 21 in the game, reaching double digits for a team-best 17^th time.
 
Broncs By The Numbers
- Rider shot 40.0% (20-50) from the field, and 9.5% (2-21) from three. The Mountaineers shot 30.2% (16-53) from the field and 24.1% (7-29) from three.
- The Broncs had 14 assists on their 20 made baskets, led by six from Ekofo.
- The Mount had a 36-35 edge on the boards, including a 12-7 edge in offensive rebounds. Okechukwu led Rider with eight rebounds.