Crites comes up big, Rio bounces Bears from RSC semifinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - On a day when nearly everyone else around her had trouble putting the ball in the basket - and with a trip to the conference tournament championship hanging in the balance - University of Rio Grande senior forward Aleea Crites proved to be at her best.
     The Parkersburg, W.Va. native poured in a career-best 28 points, yanked down a game-high 11 rebounds and fueled the RedStorm in a 71-56 win over rival Shawnee State University, Saturday afternoon, in the semifinal round of the River States Conference Women's Basketball Championship at a noisy Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, which was ranked No. 21 in the final NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll and seeded first in the 10-team tourney field, improved to 25-5 with the victory and gained a measure of revenge against the Bears, who spoiled Rio's 12-game winning streak and ended an unbeaten regular season inside the RSC for head coach David Smalley's squad with a 19-point win in Portsmouth last Saturday.
     The win also sends the RedStorm into Tuesday night's title game against No. 2 seed Oakland City University, which knocked off Point Park University in the other semifinal contest.
     Fourth-seeded Shawnee State, which was squaring off with Rio Grande for the third time in the past five Saturdays, dropped to 20-10 with the loss - just its ninth setback in 58 all-time meetings with the RedStorm - and will now wait until next Thursday's announcement from the NAIA national office to see if it's earned an at-large bid to the national tournament.
     Crites proved to be an exception, rather than the rule, in Saturday's victory.
     While the rest of her Rio teammates combined to go 15-for-48 from the floor (31.3%) and Shawnee State shot an abysmal 25 percent from the field (14-for-56) as a team, Crites went 11-for-16 from the floor - including 6-for-6 in the final quarter - and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line.
     The new single-game high for points erased her previous career-best mark of 26, which was set in Wednesday night's quarterfinal round win over Midway University. It also marked the fourth time in Rio's last seven outings that Crites has either tied or established a new single-game high scoring mark.
     And if that wasn't enough, Crites also surpassed the 1,000-point mark for career by canning a jumper in the lane which gave the RedStorm a 31-23 lead with 1:24 left before halftime.
     Rio Grande had turned an early seven-point deficit into a four-point halftime advantage, 31-27, but found itself back to staring at a 39-38 deficit after a pair of free throws by SSU's Jenna Bycznski with 4:09 left in the third period.
     Two possessions later, though, junior Harlei Antritt (Newark, OH) scored on a layup with 2:49 remaining in the quarter to put Rio back in front, 40-39, and the RedStorm never trailed again.
     The lead reached five points by the close of the stanza and touched double-digits for the first time on the day when a layup by senior Reagan Willingham (Ashville, OH) made it 54-43 with 8:07 left.
     Shawnee State got no closer than five the rest of the way and Rio's largest lead of the contest came with the game's final margin of victory.
     Crites was Rio's lone double-digit scorer in the contest. For good measure, she handed out three assists, had a game-high two steals and blocked a shot.
     Junior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) had a game-high seven assists for the RedStorm, who finished 26-for-64 overall (40.6%) and 0-for-13 from three-point range, while also being outrebounded, 48-36.
     In addition to its season-low overall shooting percentage, Shawnee State was just 5-for-24 from beyond the three-point arc (20.8%) and committed 21 turnovers which led directly to 21 Rio Grande points.
     Markayla Holland led the Bears with 19 points, two steals and a pair of blocked shots, while Chianne Gloster had 11 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists.
     Cianna Gloster also pulled down 10 boards in a losing cause for SSU.
     Tuesday night's tournament final between Rio and Oakland City is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Newt Oliver Arena.