February 11, 2010

RedStorm women lose at Lindsey Wilson

Columbia, KY --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's basketball team, who received one vote in the most recent NAIA Top 25 rating, faced a crucial road test on Thursday night at Lindsey Wilson College. The RedStorm could not overcome cold shooting and foul trouble as they lost 91-69 in Mid-South Conference play.

Rio Grande(14-11, 5-4 MSC) jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the opening four minutes thanks to back-to-back three's by Leah Kendro (Strongsville, OH) and Jenna Smith (Bellefontaine, OH). 

Lindsey Wilson, who received four votes in the most recent Top 25 rating, grabbed the lead at 9-8 and built the advantage to 30-22 with 5:50 to play in the first half.

LWC (15-8, 5-4 MSC) took a 39-27 lead to the locker room at halftime. 

Sierra Rambert was a huge spark off the bench for the Blue Raiders as she scored 13 of her 19 points in the first half.

Rio struggled from the field in the opening half hitting only 9-of-32 (28.1 percent). The RedStorm was also hit with some foul trouble as LWC went to the free throw line 17 times in the first half. The Blue Raiders out-scored Rio 12-4 at the charity stripe in the opening half.

LWC went on a 15-6 run to start the second half to blow the game open at 54-33. Rio would cut the deficit back to 14 points on two occasions but could not close the gap as the Blue Raiders kept Rio at arm's length for the remainder of the game.

The RedStorm managed to place four players in double figures led by Smith with 20 points. Kendro added 14 points and junior guard Bre Davis (Marietta, OH) also scored 14 points (nine in the second half) despite being saddled with foul trouble all night long. Freshman forward Olivia Brown (Maple Heights, OH) contributed 11 points off the bench.

The Blue Raiders received key games from their reserves. Kasey Litzinger added 18 points, including hitting 4-of-7 from three-point land. Lindsey Waters scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds off the bench. Diondra Anthony chipped in 13 points and Bethany Spillman tossed in 12.

Rio held All-MSC performer Viktoria Krell to only eight points, which is well below her season average of 17.2 per game. "We did another job on Krell on the inside and that was our game plan, but they hit some perimeter shots and we didn't and their bench out-scored our bench 34 to 7," said Rio Grande head coach David Smalley. "So that kind of puts it in perspective and that's been one of our problems."

"You learn from it, hopefully we realize that now we've put stress on ourselves for these last five games," Smalley said. "We have to win at least three of them in order to stay in the hunt for that third or fourth seed (in the MSC Tournament)."

Rio's shooting did not improve much in the second half as they ended the night at 32.8 percent (22-of-67), including 8-of-31 (25.8 percent) from long range.

The Blue Raiders blistered the nets in the second half at a 66.7 percent (22-of-33) clip. For the game, LWC shot 55 percent (33-of-60).   

Rio Grande will return home on Saturday afternoon to rematch NAIA No. 8 Campbellsville. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 1:50 p.m.

Campbellsville defeated Rio Grande 80-60, January 23 Campbellsville.