Fast start fuels Rio in win over IUS

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Kaylee Darnell was honored in pregame ceremonies for becoming just the third University of Rio Grande women's basketball player to reach the 2,000-point mark for her career.
     Then, the senior guard from Wheelersburg, Ohio went about putting visiting Indiana University Southeast into a hole that the Grenadiers couldn't climb out of.
     Darnell scored 21 of her game-high 26 points in the first half as the No. 11-ranked RedStorm opened up a 21-point halftime lead and cruised to an 85-67 win, Thursday night, in River States Conference play at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande pushed its record to 16-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play with a fifth consecutive victory.
     IU Southeast had its four-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the RSC.
     The Grenadiers scored the game's first three points, but Rio Grande responded with a 7-0 run and never trailed again.
     Darnell, the reigning RSC Offensive Player of the Week, went 5-for-5 from the floor - including a pair of three-pointers - and scored 14 of her first half points in the second quarter as the RedStorm stretched a nine-point cushion at the close of the opening period into a 49-28 edge at the intermission.
     IU Southeast, which dropped to 2-11 all-time against Rio, got no closer than 16 points - twice - the rest of the way and both of those occasions came inside the final 5-1/2 minutes of the contest.
     The RedStorm's largest lead of the day was 24 points, 77-53, after a layup by senior Harlei Antritt (Newark, OH) with 7:46 left to play.
     All 14 players in uniform for head coach David Smalley saw action and 10 scored at least two points.
     The only other player to join Darnell in double figures was freshman Jasmine Jordan (Ashland, KY), who tallied 17 points to go along with a game-best 16 rebounds and two blocked shots.
     Senior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) handed out eight assists, while freshman Payton Johnson (Peebles, OH) had nine points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals and senior Marina Garcia Perez (Leon, Spain) had six assists.
     Rio Grande shot 42.5 percent overall (31-for-73) and 76.9 percent from the free throw line (20-for-26), while outrebounding its guests, 53-36.
     IU Southeast went 29-for-71 from the floor overall (40.8%), but hit just three of its 22 three-point attempts (13.6%) and finished 6-for-14 at the foul line (42.9%).
     Linzie Wernert led the Grenadiers with a career-high 22 points and a team-best 10 rebounds, while Lexi Starr had 13 points and two steals and Ella Brown finished with 10.
     Jesse Ledgerwood handed out five assists, but was limited to just three points - nine below her team-leading season average.
     Rio Grande is slated to return to action on Saturday when it hosts Indiana University-Columbus for a 3 p.m. tipoff.