January 20, 2010

RedStorm to play St. Catharine

Rio Grande --- Both University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's and women's basketball teams are back at home for Mid-South Conference games versus St. Catharine on Thursday. The women's game tips off at 6 p.m. while the men will start at approximately 8 p.m. 

It's Beach Night at the Newt Oliver Arena and the person or organization with the best beach attire will win $100. "We did this last year, just for fun," said Rio Grande head men's coach Ken French. "This is for our students. We're going to give away $100 to the most beach-like person, anybody who is dressed up or comes with some type of theme. It may be a person or an organization, hopefully we can get a good crowd in there and have some fun, I know we're going to play hard and we're going to do our best to get our first conference win."

Rio Grande (5-13, 0-2 MSC) battled hard but fell short in trying to pick up their first ever Mid-South Conference victory on Saturday at the Baisi Center at WVU Tech. Trailing by 15 points midway through the second half, Rio fought back to have a chance to tie or win at the buzzer, only to lose 82-80.

Sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) recorded his 11th double-double of the season with a monster game of 26 points and 18 rebounds. He went 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the game. Senior guard P. J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) produced 15 points (12 in the second half) and sophomore point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) chipped in 10 points and dished out four assists.

It's the first ever match-up between the two schools in men's basketball. 

St. Catharine (12-6, 0-2 MSC) comes into Thursday's game off a 66-51 loss to the University of Cumberlands on Saturday. Arthur Latham led the Patriots in the loss, scoring 16 points. Ervin Williams also scored in double figures with 10 points.  

The Patriots are led by Williams at 16.1 ppg. and 7.1 rpg. Latham averages double figures in scoring at 11.8 ppg. Brandon Johnson (10.6) and Josh Edwards (10.4) also score in double figures.

French sizes up the opposition. "They're very good at the four and the five spot," he said. "We're going to have to do an extremely good job of defending the post.  They do a lot of high-low action, they run a ball screen, dive a guy, it's going to be interesting because it's really two contrasting styles. They're a post-oriented team and we're a perimeter oriented team."

On the women's side, Rio Grande (11-7) will be looking to go 3-0 in conference play. The RedStorm women's basketball team played their first road in Mid-South Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the Baisi Center and came away with a 74-61 victory.

Rio had three players score in double figures led by junior guard Jenna Smith (Bellefontaine, OH) with 16 points (12 in the first half). She also pulled down six rebounds. Junior forward Leah Kendro (Strongsville, OH) added 15 points (13 in the first half) and topped Rio Grande with eight rebounds. Junior point guard Bre Davis (Marietta, OH) chipped in 13 points and dished out six assists.

St. Catharine (7-11, 1-1 MSC) comes into Thursday's game off a 72-42 loss at NAIA No. 13 University of Cumberlands. Brittany Darden led the way with 17 points in a losing effort. Jennica Garrity added 11 points

The Patriots use a balanced attack led by Darden, who averages 12.8 ppg. Danielle Brown posts numbers of 11.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. 

Rio Grande head coach David Smalley knows that St. Catharine can be a handful and is preparing his team for a club that will scrap and claw the entire game. "St. Catharine just spanked West Virginia Tech in the game before we played them, so we've got a team coming in here that beat West Virginia Tech by 23, we beat West Virginia Tech by 13, so we've got out hands full with a scrappy St. Catharine team," Smalley said. "They've got nice post-players on the inside, that is going to create some issues and they've got some perimeter people. They are very guard-oriented, they can shoot the three and they've got some speed and quickness."

"So, we've got to focus on containing the perimeter and stopping their three-point shot," Smalley added. "The good thing is they're not a deep as we are, we're not really deep, but we're a little deeper than they are and we're at home. We've got to be ready to play." 

Smalley knows that starting 3-0 in the conference, especially with what's on the horizon, is big. "It's an opportunity for us to go 3-0, we're healthy, we're playing well and hopefully we can hold on a get another W on Thursday."

This is the second match-up all-time between the two schools in women's basketball. Rio Grande won the game, 56-51 at St. Catharine last year. SCC competed in the Bevo Francis Classic in 2008 but did not face Rio Grande. 

Stretch Internet will have live play-by-play coverage of both games beginning at 5:50 p.m. 

The doubleheader is sponsored by The Wiseman Agency.