December 30, 2006 - St. Bonaventure 75 Rider 59
December 30, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
St. Bonaventure University 75, Rider University 59
Wagner Christmas Classic - Championship Game
STATEN ISLAND, NY—The Broncs lost the championship game of the Wagner Christmas Classic to St. Bonaventure on Saturday night in New York. “Tonight I thought we fought hard and battled,” said head coach Tori Harrison. “We gained some much needed confidence this weekend.”
For Rider (1-11), senior Kara Borel (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) led the Broncs with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists with freshman Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun School) adding 10 points and three assists in 25 minutes of action.
“I’ve learned as we’ve been going through this season that if you are going to be a leader, you can’t just lead when times are good, you have to pick up the team when they are facing adversity,” said Borel. “When we were down 22, times weren’t well and I took it upon myself to carry us and get us back into the game.”
Borel scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second half.
“We’ve been working with Kara on getting her to spark us and lead us,” Harrison added. “She did that tonight and we will need her to continue that effort as we head into the conference schedule.”
“This weekend was a confidence booster,” Borel added. “We got our first win and we proved to ourselves that we belong on the floor with the teams we are playing. We played with more confidence but we didn’t try to do things that aren’t part of our game. Our effort on defense the whole weekend gave us the offensive opportunities that we had.”
Sophomore Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) had nine points and seven rebounds with freshman Ashley Anderson (East Orange) adding eight points and three rebounds.
“We can compete and play when we do the little things right,” Harrison added. “You have to remember that we are a very young team and with the youth, we will make a lot of rookie mistakes. It’s a matter of learning from those experiences that will make us a better team.”
Down 15-12, the Broncs went on an 8-0 run, six points by Parker to open up a 20-15 lead before St. Bonaventure (9-5) countered with a 17-2 run to go up by ten at 32-22 with 1:21 left in the first half and the Bonnies led 34-24 at the half.
St. Bonaventure opened up a 22 point lead (56-34) midway through the second half before Rider used a late run to close within nine at 66-57 with two minutes left.
In the consolation game, Cornell defeated Wagner 57-42.
Parker and Anderson were voted to the all-tournament team for the Broncs.
“It was a good tournament,” said Anderson. “I was happy that I was able to contribute and be a big part of the things that we were able to accomplish this weekend.”
“On a personal level, it makes you feel good that you are being recognized for your efforts,” said Parker. “The selections seemed to reward an overall strong game and not just the offensive numbers or a high assist total. Contributing to every aspect of the game and having people who don’t know you recognize those efforts gives you a good feeling.”
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