RedStorm rolls Midway, advances to RSC semifinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Just hours before boarding the bus for Saturday's trip to Portsmouth to face rival Shawnee State University, the University of Rio Grande women's basketball team learned about the passing of one of their most ardent fans, Gerry Gilliland.
     Gilliland, the husband of University of Rio Grande postmistress Bonnie Gilliland, lost his battle with cancer overnight at age 67.
     Later that same day, the RedStorm had, arguably, their worst outing of the season in an 84-65 loss to the Bears.
     But head coach David Smalley's squad rebounded on Wednesday night with a performance that Gilliland would most definitely have enjoyed and, in doing so, earned a shot at gaining a measure of revenge.
     Rio Grande opened up a nine-point halftime lead and continued to pull away over the final two quarters, rolling to a 112-81 triumph over Midway University in the quarterfinal round of the River States Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The top-seeded RedStorm improved to 24-5 with the win and advanced to Saturday's semifinal round where they'll host No. 4 seed Shawnee State - a 71-58 win over Ohio Christian University in one of Wednesday's three other quarterfinal round matchups.
     Midway, which was seeded No. 8 in the 10-team tourney field, finished its season at 13-17 with the loss - its 12th in 13 all-time meetings with the RedStorm.
     The Eagles matched Rio step-for-step early on, battling to a 26-all tie at the close of the opening quarter and trailing just 45-44 following a layup by Jermyra Christian with 2:52 left in the first half.
     The RedStorm closed the half on a 10-2 run, though, to build their nine-point cushion at the intermission and never let up the rest of the way.
     Midway did score six of the first 10 points in the third quarter to draw within 59-52 following a three-pointer by Trinity Johnson with 8:11 left in the period, but Rio Grande reeled off nine straight points over the next 2:15 to open up a 16-point cushion.
     The Eagles got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
     The RedStorm extended their cushion to 20 points by the close of the quarter and their largest advantage of the contest came with the 31-point final margin.
     Senior Aleea Crites (Parkersburg, WV) continued her late-season offensive surge, scoring a career-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. She now stands 13 points shy of 1,000 for her collegiate career.
     Junior Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) did a little of everything in the winning effort as well, totaling 22 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
     Four other Rio players finished in double figures.
     Senior Reagan Willingham (Ashville, OH) led with quartet with 17 points, senior Jocelyn Abraham (Exchange, WV) had 13 and the duo of junior Lexi Woods (Waverly, OH) and sophomore Marlee Grinstead (Albany, OH) netted 10 points each. Grinstead also had eight rebounds, six assists and a pair of steals.
     Junior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) handed out a game-best nine assists for the RedStorm, who shot just under 55 percent overall (45-for-82) and who finished with 33 assists - the sixth time this season that the team has had 30 or more assists in a single game.
     Alyssa Hitch scored a career-high 22 points to lead Midway, while Sereniti Webb had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Atlantis White had 10 points and Christian finished with six assists.
     The Eagles shot a respectable 42.5 percent overall (31-for-73) and 39.3 percent from three-point range (11-for-28), but went just 8-for-15 at the foul line (53.3%), were outrebounded, 52-34, and committed 22 turnovers.
     Saturday's semifinal game between Rio and Shawnee State is set for a 2 p.m. tipoff at the Newt Oliver Arena.