Darnell hits milestone as Rio bounces Bearcats

Rio Grande Sports Information
     OWENSBORO, Ky. - Leave it to University of Rio Grande senior standout Kaylee Darnell to provide the shining light on an otherwise less-than-picturesque victory.
     The Wheelersburg, Ohio native became just the third player in program history to reach the 2,000-point plateau for her career and the RedStorm slugged out an 82-71 triumph over Brescia University, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference women's basketball action at The Moore Center.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 11 in the latest NAIA coaches' Top 25 poll, improved to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in league play as a result of the win.
     The host Bearcats dropped to 11-5 overall and 3-3 in the RSC with the loss.
     The two-hour-plus contest struggled to have any kind of flow and was marred by 54 combined personal fouls - 32 on Brescia and 22 on the RedStorm - and 69 free throw attempts between the two teams.
     Darnell finished with 24 points in the victory and currently sits at 2,000 points for her career. She joins Stacy Riley (2,288) and Lee Ann Mullins (2,194) as the only players in program history to reach the magical mark.
     Rio Grande trailed three times in the game's opening 3-1/2 minutes, but it was free throw by Darnell with 5:43 left in the first quarter which put the RedStorm in front to stay, 11-10.
     The RedStorm led by as many as 12 points late in the first half before settling on a 36-25 lead at the intermission.
     Brescia refused to go away quietly, though, and sliced the deficit to three on three separate occasions in the third quarter, the last of which came at 53-50 following a layup by Caroline Lucas with 1:47 remaining in the period.
     Rio scored 10 of the final 11 points in the stanza, though, to regain a 12-point cushion entering the final quarter and led by no less than six points the rest of the way.
     The six-point gap came at 74-68 following a layup by Lucas with 40 seconds left in the game, but Darnell hit three of four free throw attempts over the RedStorm's next two possessions - including two with 31.9 seconds remaining to hit the milestone mark - to seal the win.
     Rio Grande shot a season-low 36.4 percent (24-for-66), including 1-for-7 from three-point range, but was 33-for-45 (73.3%) at the charity stripe.
     In addition to Darnell, three others reached double figures in the RedStorm's winning effort.
     Freshman Jasmine Jordan (Ashland, KY) had 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, while freshman Payton Johnson (Peebles, OH) had 13 points and senior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) added 10 points and a team-high four assists.
     Darnell, Jordan and junior Marlee Grinstead (Albany, OH) all had three steals for Rio Grande.
     Amelia Mackey had 19 points to lead Brescia, while Lucas finished with 15 and Brooklyn Stewart netted 11.
     Shelbie Beatty had a game-high six assists, Jenna Krampe had six rebounds and Cassidy Morris finished with three blocked shots in a losing case for the Bearcats, who shot 41.4 percent overall (24-for-58) and only 62.5 percent from the foul line (15-for-24).
     Rio Grande is slated to return to action on Thursday night when Indiana University Southeast visits the Newt Oliver Arena for another RSC contest.
     Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.