February 3, 2006 - Saint Peter's 67 Rider 53
February 3, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
Saint Peter's College 67, Rider University 53
JERSEY CITY—The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Saint Peter’s (8-12, 4-7 MAAC) Friday night.
For Rider (2-18, 1-10 MAAC), sophomore Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) scored a game-high 15 points and dished out four assists with junior Kara Borel (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) adding her seventh career ‘double-double’ with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Rider head coach Tori Harrison missed the game Friday night due to health issues, and is expected to be out for a week, per doctor’s orders. Harrison could miss two to three games before returning.
“In the first half, we gave them everything they got,” said Rider assistant coach Brian Johnson. “We didn’t box out and we let them [Saint Peter’s] go to the free throw line way too much.” The Peahens went to the line 31 times in the game (making 19), including 10 of 14 in the first half. The Broncs went to the line only 10 times in the game. “We didn’t get to the foul line enough,” added Johnson. “This was a winnable game, we expected to win but Saint Peter’s was able to attack the basket. We have to play smarter.”
The Broncs jumped out to an early six-point lead (15-9) at the 10:31 mark, seven points by junior Monica Welborn (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin).
Rider held a 20-17 lead, before the Peahens went on a 13-0 run to take a 30-20 lead with 3:06 left in the first half.
The Broncs went on an 11-4 run, four points by senior Christine Catalanotto (Flushing, N.Y./Christ the King) to cut Saint Peter’s lead to six points at 39-33 with 15:46 remaining in the game but could get no closer. Catalanotto finished with 11 points.
“Tori has this team well prepared and the players know what they are supposed to do,” said Johnson commenting on coach Harrison’s absence. “We all had big shoes to fill tonight and yes, we were under a little extra pressure but we’ve been dealing with adversity all year.”
With the starters combining for 78% of the minutes on Friday night, Rider had three of the starting five in 'double-digits' in the scoring column. “I’m happy that we got everyone involved as far as the starters,” Johnson added. “But we need to get the bench more involved, get everyone involved so we can play more to each player’s strengths. Kara [Borel] had a ‘quiet double-double’ but she worked hard in the post to give us an inside presence. She battled but can do more and expects to do more. Janele [Henderson] went at it hard in the last two games playing 78 out of a possible 80 minutes."
“We’re small,” Johnson said. “We play a lot of guards and because of that, we need to execute that much better. It is just one more thing to overcome and we’ll keep working at it.”
The Broncs host Siena at 3:00pm on Sunday in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.
-RU-
