January 28, 2010

RedStorm women bounce back with impressive over Pikeville

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's basketball team bounced back nicely from a 20-point loss last Saturday at Campbellsville to register an impressive victory over visiting Pikeville College on Thursday evening at the Newt Oliver Arena. Rio put on an amazing shooting display and cruised to an 87-68 victory.

Rio Grande (13-8, 4-1 MSC) jumped out to a 9-2 lead and was never headed. Rio would build the lead to as high as 16 points in the first half at 22-6 and 32-16. Pikeville would cut the deficit to eight at halftime (44-36). 

Rio used a 7-0 run to push the lead from 62-43 to 69-43 which put the game away midway through the second half. 

The story of the game was Rio's ability to put the ball in the basket. Rio shot 58.3 percent (35-of-60) from the field for the game, including nailing 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Junior guard Jenna Smith (Bellefontaine, OH) delivered a game-high 24 points and went 6-of-8 from long range. She also dished out seven assists. 

Senior forward Courtney Congrove (Chillicothe, OH) netted 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. Junior point guard Bre Davis (Marietta, OH) added 10 points and established a new career high and school record for assists in a single game with 12. The RedStorm shared the ball extremely well which set up good shots all game long. Rio totaled 30 assists in the game. 

Junior forward Leah Kendro (Strongsville, OH) and freshman forward Kati Moore (Lancaster, OH) nearly scored in double figures with nine points each while junior center Ashley Saunders (Amanda, OH) chipped in eight points and led the RedStorm with nine rebounds. Sophomore center Ediesha Cole (Cleveland, OH) contributed eight points, six rebounds and five blocked shots. 

Pikeville College (13-8, 1-4 MSC) was led by Natiera Hinton with 22 points. Alexis Johnson added 13 points and Lakia Bailey chipped in 10. 

"It makes you happy when the game plan comes together," said Rio Grande head coach David Smalley. "I thought Coaches' (Todd) Miller and K (Kirsten Roberson) did a great job with that."

"I thought our kids stayed with the game plan and then when you shoot the ball as well as we did and it wasn't just a couple of people, I think we had four, five, maybe six people hit some three's," Smalley added. "It was a great team effort, when you have 30 assists you've got to believe that you've got a very unselfish ball club."

"We passed the ball well and we shot it well and when we shoot that well, we're going to beat some teams," Smalley said. "It's another W, you've got to win at home, we're extremely happy with where we are tonight."

Rio has won four of its last five games and six of its last nine. 

The RedStorm are tied for second place in the Mid-South Conference heading into another showdown game versus NAIA No. 12 University of the Cumberlands on Saturday afternoon with sole possession of second place on the line.  Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 1:50 p.m.