December 20, 2007 - Rice 66 Rider 65
December 20, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
Rice University 66, Rider University 65
HOUSTON, TEXAS—Are things really bigger in Texas? Rider almost enjoyed what would have been a big upset of Conference USA member Rice on Thursday night. Despite 15 points and five rebounds from sophomore Tammy Meyers (Willingboro), the Broncs lost a non-conference game by one in the Lone Star state. “I feel bad for the kids, they played well enough to win,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “The last couple of games tell me that I have a group of fighters.”
Trailing 66-61 with two minutes remaining, Rider (4-7) went on a 4-0 run, two points each by senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) and Meyers and trailing by one, had four chances to win the game in the final minute with a final shot blocked at the buzzer. Rider out-rebounded the Owls 35-32 including 13-8 on the offensive glass. Henderson finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. “Tammy gave us a strong gutsy performance,” Milligan said. “She is hard to guard, she’ll hit that mid-range jumper or she’ll hit a three if you let her. She played with a little fire in her belly tonight and it was a great thing to see.”
Rice defeated Rider by 35 points last season in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. “We don’t draw too much off last season but Rice is a really talented team and to come down here, fly half way across the country, right before the holidays and match them play for play tells me something about our team. They got embarrassed last season on their home floor and made sure that wasn’t going to happen again. We had a little chip on our shoulder.”
Rider led 39-34 with 17 minutes remaining before Rice used a 5-0 run to tie the game. The game saw 11 ties and eight lead changes.
The Owls were led by six foot four inch Valeriy Berezhynska who had 21 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Berezhynska came into the game ranked 57th in the nation in scoring and 63rd in rebounding.
Junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) had her fifth career ‘double-double’ scoring 10 points with 12 rebounds, five on the offensive glass. “Shaunice did a great job against a 6-4 kid that’s ranked in points and rebounds in the nation,” Milligan said. “Yes, she got 21 points and nine boards but she worked for everything she got. Shaunice went right at her and didn’t back down.”
Down 11-5, Rider went on a 9-0 run, three points each by Meyers, Parker and junior Danielle Costantino (Norristown, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) to lead 14-11 mid-way through the first half. Costantino finished with five points off the bench.
Rice (7-5) led 28-27 before the Broncs went on a 6-0 run, all six points by Henderson and the Broncs led 36-30 at the half.
Also for Rider, sophomore Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun School) had 14 points, including four field goals from three-point range.
This is Rider’s second loss of the season by one point, having lost to Niagara 58-57 on December 9 and all of the Bronc losses have been by single digits. “We have to get over that hump,” Milligan added. “That’s the one thing that I told them after the game is that I don’t want to say almost anymore. We’ll use the time over the holidays to work in some new things to get us some wins.”
Rice won 19 games last season, qualifying for the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. “Tonight reinforces what I’ve been saying about our history,” Milligan said. “It doesn’t matter what our uniform says, what their uniform says, it is the person in the uniform and if we continue to fight and battle and give the effort that we have so far, we’ll be in every game we play, no matter who the opponent is.”
The Broncs host the Princeton Tigers on December 29 at 2:00pm. “We’ve lost the close games but we don’t have that ‘deer in the headlights’ look that we had early in the season. We’re excited for the Princeton game, they have some talented players and it’s like playing an inner city rival. They have played some quality teams tough and they have a new young energetic coach and we are excited for the opportunity to play them in Alumni Gym.”
-RU-
