November 14, 2009

RedStorm fall short in Bevo Final

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's basketball team lost for the first time on the 2009-10 season on Saturday afternoon in the Bevo Francis Championship game. The RedStorm dropped a hard fought 88-84 decision to Bluefield College.

Rio Grande (3-1) went on a 9-0 run early in the game to take control of the game at 11-5 with 14:05 on the first half clock.  The RedStorm would steadily build the advantage throughout the first half, claiming leads of 16-7, 24-14 and 28-15 at the 7:35 mark. From that point, Bluefield College (5-0) found its rhythm and caught the RedStorm at the 1:37 mark (38-37) and took a 42-37 lead to halftime. 

Bluefield would lead the rest of the way, although Rio battled back from a 46-37 deficit to tie the game at 54-54. 

The Lady Rams would surge back ahead by 10 points at 76-66 only to see the RedStorm battle back once again to get to within a single possession at 84-81. Bluefield salted the game away hitting four free throws down the stretch to finish off Rio Grande.

The loss overshadowed a career-high performance from junior forward Leah Kendro (Strongsville, OH). Kendro notched a double-double with a 30-point, 11 rebound effort. She earned all-tournament honors for her efforts. Kendro went 12-for-13 from the free throw line. 

Rio had two other players score in double figures with freshman Olivia Brown (Maple Heights, OH) adding 13 points and junior guard Jenna Smith (Bellefontaine, OH) tossing in 10 points. Brown also made the all-tournament team.

Junior guard Bre Davis (Marietta, OH) was on the verge of double figures with eight points to go along with, a game-high, seven assists and senior forward Courtney Congrove (Chillicothe, OH) also scored eight points.

Bluefield was led by Brittney Whaley with 17 points. She was named as the tournament's most valuable player. Takieya Rouse added 15 points (11 in the first half), which earned her all-tournament team honors. Megan Randall added 12 points and six rebounds.

"It was a tough loss for us, we turned the ball 31 times and we said in our pre-game that if we want to be successful we've got to take care of the ball and that's really the main thing that hurt us," said Rio Grande head coach David Smalley. "Leah did a nice job, she played a great game, I'm really proud of her and I thought Bre Davis was just phenomenal at the point considering all the pressure they gave us."

"She really took care of the ball, she had a few turnovers down the stretch but as much as the ball was in her hands I thought she did a good job," Smalley added. "We just didn't shoot the ball well."

"If you turn the ball over 31 times against a good team then you're going to come up on the short end of the stick," Smalley said. "I was proud of our kids, our effort, they came back at the end and did a nice job and gave us a chance to really to get to the point to where we possibly could win a close ball game."

Point Park won the consolation game, defeating Midway College, 97-88. April Austin of Point Park and Jackie Hicks of Midway were also named to the all-tournament team. 

Rio Grande will travel to Tennessee to play in the Roy Baker Classic at Bethel (TN) College next weekend.