Cougars deal Rio women first loss

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande battled back from an eight-point second half deficit, but then faded down the stretch in an 84-80 loss to Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Tuesday night, in non-conference women's basketball action at Ariel Arena.
     The RedStorm, ranked 20th in the latest NAIA coaches' poll, suffered their first loss in six outings.
     MVNU improved to 4-2 with the win.
     A back-and-forth first half finished with the Cougars holding a 39-35 advantage and the host's cushion twice grew to as many as eight points, including 60-52 after a layup by Angela Roshak with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter.
     Rio Grande began chipping away the deficit, though, and eventually pulled even at 70-70 on a jumper by sophomore Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) with 5:36 left in the game.
     The RedStorm then completed the road back by grabbing a 78-77 lead after another jumper in the lane by Darnell with 2:13 remaining.
     The lead, however, lasted all of five seconds.
     Rylee Pireu canned a pair of free throws to put the Cougars back in front and they never trailed again, closing the contest on an 8-2 run.
     Rio Grande went 1-for-8 from the floor and committed a turnover over the final two minutes of the game. In fact, the RedStorm's lone bucket came just before the final horn on a layup by sophomore Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) to set the final score.
     Rio finished the night at 38.8 percent overall (33-for-85), including 3-for-15 from three-point range, but outrebounded MVNU 52-47 and had just eight turnovers.
     Senior Ella Skeens (Chillicothe, OH), who on Monday was named the River States Conference Player of the Week, led a quartet of double-digit scorers for the RedStorm with 20 points.
     Darnell tacked on 16 points, while Williams had 12 and sophomore Harlei Antritt (Newark, OH) finished with a double-double effort of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
     Mount Vernon Nazarene, which finished 31-for-73 from the field (42.5%), also had four players reach double figures in the victory.
     Roshak, the Cougars' freshman center, had a career-high 27 points and 16 rebounds to lead the way, while Madelyn Lawson added 15 points and a pair of blocked shots off the bench.
     Pireu tallied 13 points in the winning effort, while Emily Walker netted 12 points off the bench and Maggie Coe shook off a poor shooting night - 3-for-15 overall, 0-for-5 from three-point range - by handing out a game-best 10 assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday afternoon with its River States Conference opener at Ohio Christian University.
     Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Maxwell Center in Circleville.