RedStorm rolls past Grace, reaches Round of 16

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Wednesday night marked the final appearance of the 2022-23 season for the University of Rio Grande women's basketball team on its home court at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     And head coach David Smalley's squad made sure it left a lasting impression on its red sea of supporters.
     The 12th-ranked RedStorm opened up a 13-point halftime and then buried Grace College (Ind.) in the third quarter en route to an eventual 99-55 win in the second round of the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship presented by Ballogy.
     Rio Grande, the top seed in the four-team pod and the No. 4 seed in the Duer Quadrant of the 64-team national tourney, improved to 30-3 with the win and punched its ticket to the Round of 16 and a meeting with the quadrant's top seed, Campbellsville (Ky.) University, next Monday, at 7 p.m. EST, at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
     The victory was also the 12th consecutive triumph for the RedStorm and secured consecutive 30-win seasons for the first time in program history.
     Grace, the No. 3 seed in the four-team pod and the No. 12 seed in the quadrant, dropped to 22-10 with the loss.
     "We had a little bit of a cushion at halftime, but outscoring them 27-7 in the third quarter was really the ballgame," said Smalley, who picked up the 650th win of his 31-year career as Rio's head coach. "Our kids did a tremendous job. It was a great win for a program that deserves it. I couldn't be any more proud than I am of our young ladies."
     Rio Grande trailed just once, at 4-2 a little over a minute into the game, and closed the opening quarter with a 24-16 lead.
     The advantage grew to 13 points, 46-33, at the intermission, but it was a third quarter surge by the RedStorm which turned the game completely lopsided.
     Grace managed just seven points in the period - four of which came in the final 57.4 seconds of the stanza - as Rio Grande built a 33-point cushion by the close of the quarter.
     The Lancers were just 2-for-17 from the floor over the 10-minute span (11.8%) and missed all seven of their three-point attempts in the period.
     In addition to the cold shooting touch - particularly in the third quarter - Grace wilted under the RedStorm's defensive pressure throughout the night and committed 24 turnovers which led directly to 32 Rio points.
     "Last night we were on one end of a totally lopsided game and tonight we were on the other end of a totally lopsided game," said Grace head coach Dan Davis, whose squad posted a 30-point win over the University of Pikeville in its NAIA national tournament debut on Tuesday night. "All the credit goes to Rio Grande. They were phenomenal tonight. They made shots and we didn't."
     Karlee Feldman, Grace's 6-foot-2 junior center and the hub of the Lancers' offensive attack, got into early foul trouble and was limited to just four points and four rebounds - well under her per game averages of 16.0 ppg and 12.0 rpg - in 18 minutes of playing time.
     "Our coaches did a great job of subbing tonight," Smalley said. "We were platooning in the post because we wanted to make sure that we kept their bigs running up and down the floor."
     Rio Grande continued to build on its advantage into the final period and led by as many as 47 points, 99-52, after a three-pointer by sophomore Kaeli Ross (Flatwoods, KY) with 2:34 left in the game.
     The RedStorm finished 40-for-71 overall (56.3%) and enjoyed a 47-36 rebounding advantage.
     Sophomore guard Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) led 11 different scorers for Rio Grande with a game-high 26 points. She also finished with five assists and tied for game-high honors with four steals on the heels of a career-high 27-point performance in Tuesday night's win over Siena Heights (Mich.) University.
     Senior Ella Skeens (Chillicothe, OH) and sophomore Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) both had 12 points in the win, while Williams also had a game-high six assists and Skeens added five rebounds and five assists.
     Junior Lexi Woods (Waverly, OH) netted 10 points off the bench, while junior Jocelyn Abraham (Exchange, WV) had a team-high six rebounds and junior Lavender Ward (Charleston, WV) had four steals of her own.
     Kate Rulli led Grace with 12 points, while Maddie Ryman had 11 points, Kaylee Patton pulled down a game-best eight rebounds and Peyton Murphy had four assists.
     Rulli and Feldman also blocked two shots each for the Lancers.
     Grace finished 19-for-61 from the floor (31.1%) and just 4-for-22 from three-point range (18.2%), while also connecting on only 13 of 23 free throw attempts (56.5%).