December 2, 2006 - La Salle 88 Rider 76
December 2, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
La Salle University 88, Rider University 76
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Broncs lost a non-conference game against the Explorers Saturday. “It was a tale of two games,” said head coach Tori Harrison. “We battled in the first five minutes of the first half and the last ten minutes of the game. We have to battle for a full 40 minutes.”
For Rider (0-5), sophomore Maura Gillooly (Fanwood, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) led five Broncs in double-digits with a career-high 14 points off the bench.
“Maura has been doing a good job all year,” Harrison said. “I have never had a problem with her effort. She understands the game and understands what the team needs out of her.”
Junior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) scored 12 and added three rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes of action.
Down 83-58 with four minutes left, Rider rallied with an 18-3 run, six points each by Gillooly and freshman Ashley Anderson (East Orange, N.J./East Orange), cutting the La Salle lead to ten at 86-76 with 24 seconds left. Anderson finished with 10 points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in 13 minutes of action.
“Ashley is a phenomenal athlete,” said Harrison. “You show her something one time and she is going to do it.”
La Salle (7-0) jumped out to an early 13-6 lead at the 16 minute mark before Rider went on an 11-4 run, three points each by Henderson and sophomore Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) to tie the score at 17 with 13 minutes left in the first half.
Up 26-22, the Explorers went on a 12-1 run, opening up a 38-23 lead with two minutes left and led the Broncs 46-30 at the half.
Rider went the first five minutes of the second half without scoring with La Salle opening up a 57-30 lead with 15 minutes left in the game.
“We were being aggressive and then we couldn’t score,” said Harrison. “And when that happens, you have to do a better job of stopping the other team from scoring and we didn’t do that.”
Also for the Broncs, senior Kara Borel (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) scored 10 points, all in the second half and added seven rebounds and two assists.
“I challenged Kara at the half and she took the team on her shoulders,” said Harrison. “She was more assertive late in the game and that’s what we need from her.”
“Even though our record is 0-5, I think we’ve gotten better as a team,” said Borel who was a perfect eight for eight from the foul line. “We get better by playing good teams and we are excited to be getting into the conference schedule and show we’ve gotten better.”
Rider travels to Saint Peter’s for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game on Friday, December 8 at 7:00pm.
“Friday is a new season,” Harrison added. “We used the first five non-conference games to get a grasp on what we can do and the things we can’t do and while we are still working on those things, I told the team that it’s a new season, everyone is 0-0 and we will go from there. I am optimistic that we will learn from these experiences and bounce back. We are still young and we are still learning.”
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