RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande used a 13-0 run to open up an 11-point lead less than four minutes into the game and went on to post an 84-62 win over Wilberforce, Wednesday night, in women's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
The RedStorm ended a two-game losing slide, improving to 14-7 overall with the victory.
Wilberforce, which lost for the fifth straight time and the seventh time in its last eight outings, fell to 3-15 overall.
The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead on a Danisha Brown jumper just 27 seconds into the game, but Rio reeled off the next 13 points and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
Wilberforce did close the gap to 23-21 after a bucket by Danielle Lewis with 5:02 remaining before halftime, but the RedStorm scored the next 12 points to essentially put things on ice once and for all.
The Bulldogs, a former America Mideast Conference rival of Rio in seasons past, sliced the deficit to nine, 41-32, just over two minutes into the second half, but got no closer. A subsequent 17-2 run by the RedStorm gave head coach David Smalley its biggest lead of the night, 58-34, following a layup by junior guard Shardae Morrison-Fountain (Columbus, OH) with 13:42 left to play.
Rio was outrebounded, 53-47, but limited Wilberforce to just 32 percent shooting (24-for-75) from the field overall and a 3-for-15 showing from three-point range. The Bulldogs also committed 30 turnovers.
The RedStorm turned it over 21 times themselves and hit just one of their 14 three-point tries, but were 31-for-71 from the field overall (43.7%) and finished with a season-high 17 steals.
Senior guard Kaylee Helton (Lucasville, OH) led a trio of double-digit scorers for Rio with 19 points. She also had a team-high seven assists, four steals and two blocked shots.
Junior forward Jayvonna Saddler (Cincinnati, OH) added 18 points and a team-best 10 rebounds to the winning effort, while Morrison-Fountain tossed in 17 points.
Brown had 15 points in the loss for Wilberforce, while De'Andra Hall chipped in with 14 and Tanadra Spivey finished with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Rio Grande will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule on Saturday afternoon, at home, against West Virginia Tech. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. A webcast of the game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm beginning at 1:45 p.m.
