Rio women clobber Cougars, snap slide

Rio Grande Sports Information
     KOKOMO, Ind. - The University of Rio Grande opened up a 35-point halftime lead and never looked back, cruising to a 104-56 win over Indiana University Kokomo, Wednesday night, in River States Conference women's basketball action at the Student Activities and Events Center.
     The RedStorm, ranked No. 14 in the most recent NAIA coaches' Top 25 poll, snapped a two-game losing slide with the victory and pushed its season record to 12-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play.
     IU Kokomo dropped to 3-9 overall and 0-3 in the RSC with the loss.
     The host Cougars trailed just 7-4 after a layup by Anna Kiser a little less than four minutes into the contest, but Rio Grande closed the quarter on a 15-3 run and then outscored IUK 35-15 in the second period for a 57-22 lead at the halftime intermission.
     The RedStorm kept coming after the break, scoring the first six points of the second half and extended their lead to as many 47 points, 74-27, after a layup by junior Harlei Antritt (Newark, OH) with 4:38 left in the third quarter.
     Rio's largest advantage of the night was 54 points, 93-39, after a three-pointer by senior Reagan Willingham (Ashville, OH) with 7:26 left in the game.
     Junior Lexi Woods (Waverly, OH), who recorded a "double-double" in the opening half, led Rio Grande with a game-high 22 points and 18 rebounds in 25 minutes of playing time and was one of four RedStorm players to finish in double figures.
     Junior Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) added 20 points in the winning effort, while senior Lavender Ward (Charleston, WV) had a career-best 15 points and Willingham finished with 14 points each.
     Junior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) had five assists for Rio and fellow junior Marina Garcia Perez (Leon, Spain) had four steals.
     Rio Grande shot 48.1 percent overall (39-for-81), 34.6 percent from distance (9-for-26) and 89.5 percent from the foul line (17-for-19).
     The RedStorm also enjoyed a 63-33 edge in rebounding and was the beneficiary of 20 Kokomo turnovers which led directly to 32 Rio points.
     The Cougars shot just 29.6 percent overall (21-for-71) and connected on only four of their 20 three-point attempts (20.0%).
     Olivia Dowden led IUK with 18 points and six rebounds, while Anya Friend had 12 points and Hannah Hodgen handed out three assists.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Saturday afternoon when it hosts St. Mary-of-the-Woods College at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.