March 4, 2010

RedStorm women's hoops season ends

Frankfort, Ky. --- The 2009-10 season ended for the University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's basketball team on Thursday afternoon as they lost 68-65 to Lindsey Wilson College in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-South Conference Tournament at the Frankfort Convention Center.

Rio Grande (16-15) and LWC (20-10) locked up in a tight match-up that went to the final seconds.   The largest lead of the game was only seven points. 

After scoring the first basket of the game, Rio Grande was forced to play catch-up in the first half as the Blue Raiders built the lead to seven points on three different occasions at 13-6, 23-16 and 32-25. With Rio trailing 13-6, the RedStorm went on a 10-2 run to take a 16-15 lead at the 8:51 mark of the first half on a steal and a lay-up by junior guard Jenna Smith (Bellefontaine, OH).

LWC would take a 34-30 lead at the half after a rebound and putback basket by Sierra Rambert at the buzzer. 

Rio went on a 5-0 run to start the second half and re-take the lead at 35-34 in the opening moments of the final period.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair with each team regaining the lead on nearly every possession. Rio appeared to have to have gained control of the game at the 8:06 mark when junior Leah Kendro (Strongsville, OH) bagged a three-pointer. Freshman forward Kati Moore (Lancaster, OH) added a three-pointer moments after a Blue Raider basket to give Rio's its largest advantage of the game at five points (57-52). Moore scored six points in the game.

LWC responded and tied the game at 61-61 and then out-scored the RedStorm 7-4 down the stretch to win the game. Rio had a chance to tie the game with 7.2 seconds left. Lindsey Wilson's Viktoria Krell missed two free throws and Rio raced down the floor to try to get off the game-tying three-pointer, but junior guard Bre Davis (Marietta, OH) was only able to get off a desperation three that fell short of the mark.

Kendro led Rio Grande with 21 points, leaving her 15 points shy of 1,000 heading into her senior season. Smith added 18 points (13 in the first half) and led Rio Grande with seven rebounds. Davis handed out eight assists in the game.

Lindsey Waters of Lindsey Wilson led all scorers with 27 points. Krell added 18 points and seven rebounds to the Blue Raider cause and Rambert chipped in 12 points and handed out six assists. 

Rebounding was a huge factor in the game as LWC out-rebounded Rio Grande 36-28, including 12-3 on the offensive glass. Turnovers also played a role as Rio tallied 20 miscues (14 in the first half) to only 14 for the Blue Raiders.

"It was a great game," said Rio Grande head coach David Smalley. "Lindsey's a good ball club as we know." 

"We had looks, we had tons of looks, we had medium-range, we had three's," Smalley added. "Shooting the three and the way we shoot, sometimes you shoot yourself into games and win games, sometimes you shoot yourself out. This game was a roller-coaster, we didn't shoot well then we shot well in the first half and came back."

"The second half we started shooting the ball nicely and having success and then down the stretch it just didn't happen," Smalley said. "In a game like this, you've got to be a little more consistent than what we were."

Rio Grande shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51)from the field, including 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from three-point land. Lindsey Wilson countered with 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the field. 

Smalley was disappointed that Rio allowed Waters to score as easily as she did. "Waters had 27 points and that's just like, please, it was almost like we never noticed that she was shooting the ball, we kept working and talking and trying to do defensive schemes to eliminate her a little bit," he said. "Our inability to stop her was huge down the stretch."

Rio Grande finished the season at 16-15.