CNBNews

Women’s College Basketball

LAWRENCEVILLE—All is forgotten when you make the winning shot. Shaking off an 0-7 shooting effort in the first 37 minutes of the game, Rider sophomore Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun School) made a three-point field goal at the buzzer to give Rider a victory over Princeton Saturday afternoon.  “I am proud of the kids for the way they fought,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.  “It wasn’t a pretty game by any means but we talk about it everyday, how you battle and battle and play strong defense so that you have the opportunity to win close games.”

Sepulveda scored seven of Rider’s final nine points of the game and finished with seven points making three of her last four field-goals while adding seven rebounds (four offensive) and four assists in 34 minutes of action.

“It’s very important to have a player like Amanda that has that much confidence,” said junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) who compiled her sixth career ‘double-double’ with a team-high 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.  “This is going to help us push into the new year and will also send a message that we aren’t the same Rider team as the last few seasons.”  Parker also had three blocks and four steals in 30 minutes of action.

“If you work hard and put yourselves in situations to win games, good things will happen,” Milligan said.  “Everyone wants the ball in the final minute and you can’t say that about a lot of teams, let along very many players.  We don’t really have a player that isn’t afraid to shoot with the game on the line and that gives us so many options. After missing the shot at Rice, that shows me how tough of a kid that Amanda is.”  Rider lost by one at the C-USA power Owls 66-65 on December 20.

“The kid made a big shot,” said Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart.  “We had to work hard for all of our shots and we didn’t make them [Rider] work as hard for theirs.”

“Amanda had the option of going or looking for Janele [Henderson] since we only needed a two,” Milligan said about the winning play. “Janele was open but Amanda took the shot and it went in.  At Rice last week, Janele wasn’t open and Amanda had to go to the basket and the shot was blocked.  We’ll take today’s result.  With the way Amanda struggled and having the shot blocked at the end of the Rice game, a lot of kids would have passed the ball off but Amanda wanted the ball and wanted to take the shot.”

“I wanted to take the shot again,” Sepulveda said.  “I saw Janele was covered so I just threw the shot up and it went in.  I was given a little bit of space and I knew if I could get the shot off, it had a chance to go in.  That’s the biggest shot of my career.  It was exciting.  You need that confidence level.  You learn from every situation that you face and I learned from the Rice game and all of the other close games that we’ve had this season.”

With the score tied at 40, Bronc sophomore Tammy Meyers (Willingboro) made a lay up with 29 seconds left before Princeton senior Meg Cowher hit a jumper at the top of the key with 7.8 seconds left for the sixth and final tie of the game, setting Sepulveda’s winning shot.  Cower finished with a game-high 24 points and a team-high nine rebounds with Meyers adding 11 points and four rebounds. 

“Cowher is a terrific player,” Milligan said.  “She is difficult to stop because she is very fundamental with her foot work.  You know how she is going to score and we didn’t do a very good job stopping her but we did make her work for everything she got. And we stopped everyone else from scoring their averages.”

Sepulveda’s offensive rebound and lay up with 52 seconds left gave Rider a 40-38 lead.

Rider led 38-33 before Princeton went on a 7-2 run to tie the score at 40-40 with 40 seconds left.

The Broncs led 32-17 before the visiting Tigers went on a 13-2 run, eight points by Cower, to cut the lead to 34-30 with 4:12 remaining. “It was nerve racking that we started turning the ball over and they started making shots,” Parker said.  “But coach told us that the game is never over until the final horn goes off and we were ready from what we did in practice for these tight situations, what to do if they score and what to do if the game is tied.  We just had to stick with the system but it was nerve racking.  Amanda’s final shot was awesome.”

Rider (5-7) out-scored Princeton (3-11) 14-4 to start the second half, five points by Meyers, to take a 32-17 lead with 12 minutes left.

Trailing 9-8, Rider went on an 8-0 run, six by Parker, to take a 16-9 lead and Rider led 18-13 at the half.

“Shaunice is working at her game every day,” Milligan said.  “She is getting better and better and when she sets her mind to it, I don’t know if there is a better rebounder around.”

Rider has now won eight of the 25 all-time meetings with its Mercer County rival.  The Tigers defeated the Broncs by 29 last season in Jadwin Gym, scoring 47 points in the first half.

Princeton has lost five straight games.

“To hold a quality team like Princeton to 42 points is amazing,” Milligan added.  “For us to have five wins going into the new year, I am very proud of that.  After playing a one-point loss, overtime win and one-point loss, it was nice to reap the rewards today and get another win.  A solid defensive effort is your main stay and gets you through games where you struggle offensively.”

This is the second time this season that the Broncs have held a team in the 40’s with Rider defeating Monmouth 59-46 on November 9 and is the best defensive effort for Rider since holding Niagara to 41 points in a 73-41 win on January 10, 1999 in Alumni Gym.

“The defensive effort was great today,” Parker added.  “Holding Princeton to 13 points in the first half gave us the opportunity to win the game and just like Coach Milligan said, ‘a strong defensive effort will keep you in every game’.”

“It feels great that we are earning respect with the way we play,” Sepulveda added.  “After struggling last season, this feels really good.  We focused on ball pressure and tried to limit what the other players besides Cowher could do.”  Cowher had 57 percent of Princeton’s scoring in the game.

Also for Rider, freshman Shannon Ferguson (Fort Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin) had 10 rebounds, seven on the offensive end to go along with four points in 32 minutes of action.  “Shannon gave us a spark with the two offensive rebound put backs,” Milligan said.  “When you are struggling as a team, the hustle plays are what are going to keep you in the game and with 18 offensive rebounds, we hustled on the offensive glass.  We work very hard on not being spectators and going after each rebound hard.”

The Broncs host ACC power Virginia on Wednesday, January 2 at 7:00pm in Alumni Gym.  “Virginia is pretty good,” said Milligan.  “So this is a good spring board in the respect that I don’t have to keep telling the team that it will happen, good things will come with hard work. They all witnessed how hard work creates opportunities for you as a team and with this being a local rivalry, this was a big win.”

Entering the game, the Broncs had suffered seven losses, all by single digits, including two one-point heartbreakers but were able to give Princeton its fifth single-digit loss of the season.  “It feels good to finally be on the cheering side and not on the side walking off the floor with your head down,” Sepulveda added.  “This definitely will give us momentum heading into 2008.”

-RU-