Willingham's career night leads Rio past Eagles

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Given the frequency with which Rio Grande senior Reagan Willingham connected from three-point range during Tuesday night's meeting with Alice Lloyd College, perhaps her parents should've considered spelling her first name "Ray-gun".
     The Ashville, Ohio native connected on a single-game school record 10 trifectas and poured in a career-high 38 points as the RedStorm rolled to a 120-87 win over the Eagles in River States Conference play at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 14 in the latest NAIA coaches' Top 25 poll, improved to 10-2 overall and 4-0 in league play with the victory.
     Alice Lloyd dropped to 6-4 overall and 2-2 in the RSC with the loss.
     Willingham finished 14-for-24 overall and 10-for-19 from beyond the three-point arc, eclipsing the previous single-game school high of eight three-pointers set by Kaylyn Gambill against Miami-Middletown on Nov. 9, 2013 and equaled by Willingham against Ohio Valley University on Nov. 8, 2019.
     Four of Willingham's teammates also finished in double figures in the victory.
     Junior Harlei Antritt (Newark, OH) tied a career-high with 16 points off the bench in just 16 minutes of playing time, going 6-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the foul line. She also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
     Junior Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) tallied 14 points and six assists, junior Lexi Woods (Waverly, OH) had 13 points and senior Aleea Crites (Parkersburg, WV) tossed in 11.
     Junior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) handed out a game-high seven assists for Rio Grande, while fellow junior Marina Garcia Perez (Leon, Spain) had six assists and four steals.
     The RedStorm finished 50-for-86 from the floor (58.1%) and 11-for-27 from distance (40.7%), while also enjoying a 45-30 edge in rebounding and committing just nine turnovers.
     Rio Grande led just 21-19 after one quarter, but pulled away by scoring 15 of the first 17 points in the second period.
     The advantage grew to 20 points by halftime, to 29 points by the close of the third quarter and to as many as 39 points, 109-70, after the last of Willingham's long-range bombs with 5:04 left to play.
     Alice Lloyd, which played a second straight game with regular starters Madison Thompson and Katie Jo Moore sidelined by injury, shot the ball well (35-for-71, 49.3%) but hurt its own cause with 19 turnovers which led directly to 29 Rio points.
     Hannah Kash led the Eagles with 29 points and six assists, while Kenzie Maynard totaled 23 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.
     Abby Maggard had 11 points and two steals in a losing cause, while Emily Estes had 10 points off the bench.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Friday night when Mount Vernon Nazarene visits for a non-conference matchup.
     Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.