CNBNews

Women’s College Basketball

ANNAPOLIS, Md.—The Broncs lost a non-conference game at Navy Sunday afternoon.  “The first half we got out worked,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.  “We played better in the second half, turned up the intensity and made some more shots but we got out-worked, especially in the first half.  It’s really that simple.”

Down by 18 points with seven minutes remaining in the game, Rider (2-2) used a full-court press and went on a 17-6 run, keyed by two straight three-pointers from sophomore Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun School) and the Broncs got to within seven at 60-53 with two minutes remaining.  Sepulveda finished with six points.

“There’s no silver lining coming back,” Milligan said.  “We didn’t compete for 40 minutes.  Yes, we did a good job cutting the lead down to six and picked up the intensity but the bottom line is that we dug ourselves a hole early which is something we have to correct.”

Sophomore Ashley Anderson’s (East Orange) driving lay up with 19 seconds left got Rider to within six before Navy sealed the game at the free throw line.  Anderson had eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 26 minutes of action off the bench.

“We have kids who will fight back and we know the effort we have the potential to get,” Milligan added.  “We can’t keep digging holes and expect to get out of them.”

Junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake), playing in her home state, led Rider scoring 12 points with four rebounds and two steals with sophomore Tammy Meyers (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro) adding 11 points on five for six shooting.

Meyers also added six rebounds.

In the opening period, Parker hit a jumper to bring Rider to within three at 15-12 before Navy (2-3) went on a 7-0 run over the next five minutes opening up a 22-12 lead.  Parker had eight of Rider’s 20 points in the opening half.

The Midshipmen held Rider to five free throws the last five minutes of the half and led 32-20 at intermission.

“Navy’s zone took us out of our flow,” Milligan said.  “But it comes down to being out-worked and that’s not going to happen again.”

Bronc leading scorer senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) was held to six points, still suffering the after effects of an ankle injury against Hofstra November 15.  Henderson, the conference player of the week last week entered the game averaging over 22 points per game.

Navy was led by Cassie Consedine with 15 points and 12 rebounds.  K.C. Gordon and Morgan Hill also had 15 points each for the Midshipmen.

Navy, which had 16 assists on 19 made field goals, improved to 2-0 at home while the Broncs are now 0-2 on the road.  “You have to be prepared to play on the road,” said Milligan.  “Your attention to the little things and the details has to be even more.  You are in hostile territory and that’s something that we didn’t respond to today.”

Rider hosts Central Florida on Friday at 7:00pm in Alumni Gym.

“We have five days to correct some things,” said Milligan.  “We are going to get back to practice and figure out what we need to tweak.  Central Florida is young, athletic and big and we need to b e prepared to play.”

-RU-