Darnell becomes all-time scoring leader as RedStorm advance to finals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     OAKLAND CITY, Ind. - There's a line in the late Jim Croce's 1972 pop music hit "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" which, among other things, says "you don't tug on Superman's cape".
     It's easy to see that's the attitude that the University of Rio Grande women's basketball team - and senior guard Kaylee Darnell, in particular - had entering Saturday night's River States Conference semifinal contest against Oakland City University.
     Darnell, who was snubbed by the RSC coaching circle in its Player of the Year voting despite ranking among the nation's leaders in scoring, poured in a game-high 31 points and became the program's all-time leading scorer in the process to lead the 19th-ranked RedStorm in a 93-87 triumph over the Mighty Oaks at the Johnson Center.
     Rio Grande (25-5), the tourney's No. 2 seed from the East Division, won for a fifth straight time while playing its first conference tournament road contest in four years.
     As a result of the win, head coach David Smalley's club advanced to Tuesday night's tournament title game against rival Shawnee State University, which ousted Brescia University in the other semifinal tilt.
     Since the Bears already have a berth to the upcoming NAIA National Championship in hand as the RSC's regular season champion, Saturday's victory also means that Rio Grande is headed to the NAIA tourney regardless of what happens in Tuesday's title game.
     The RedStorm will be making their fifth straight appearance in the national tournament.
     Oakland City, the West Division No. 1 seed, dropped to 20-9 with the loss - its fifth straight setback against Rio Grande and its seventh in eight all-time meetings with the RedStorm.
     It also marked the second straight season in which the Mighty Oaks lost to Rio in post-season play.
     Freshman Jasmine Jordan (Ashland, KY), named the RSC's Newcomer of the Year, added 26 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots in the winning effort for the RedStorm, while senior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) added 14 points of her own.
     Rio Grande scored 12 of the final 16 points in the first quarter to open up a 28-19 lead and maintained a 47-40 advantage at the intermission.
     The RedStorm pushed their advantage to as many as 12 points, 57-45, following a pair of free throws by Darnell with 7:55 remaining in the quarter, but the Mighty Oaks countered with a 14-1 run of their own over a span of nearly six minutes - capped by a conventional three-point play by Marissa Austin with 2:11 left in the period - for a 59-58 lead of their own.
     Oakland City eventually built a six-point cushion late in the quarter, 66-60, but Rio scored the final five points of the period to pull within one and then got a three-pointer by freshman Payton Johnson (Peebles, OH) just 21 seconds into the final stanza to take a lead it would never relinquish.
     Oakland City did forge two more ties - at 68-all on a layup by Courtney Dove with 9:26 remaining and at 78-78 following a three-pointer by Emilee Hope, the coaches' choice for RSC Player of the Year, with 4:23 left to play - but a trifecta by Jordan on Rio's ensuing possession after Hope's game-tying shot officially put the guests in front to stay.
     The RedStorm pushed the lead back to nine, 91-82, after a pair of free throws by Johnson with 49 seconds left and the Mighty Oaks got no closer than five the rest of the way.
     Darnell finished 11-for-20 overall and 9-for-10 at the foul line to move past Stacey Riley's school-best mark of 2,288 career points.
     Jordan was 7-for-13 from the floor and 11-for-12 at the foul line in the win.
     As a team, Rio was 30-for-62 overall (48.4%) and a sizzling 31-for-36 at the charity stripe (86.1%).
     The RedStorm also enjoyed a 42-39 edge in rebounding.
     Oakland City shot just under 43 percent overall (30-for-70) and was 22-for-31 at the foul line (71.0%).
     Hope and Gabrielle Joyner netted 21 points each for the Mighty Oaks, while Austin added 14 of her own.
     Monesjia Harvey contributed nine rebounds and five assists in a losing effort, while Kyrisha Hay had three steals.
     Tuesday night's championship game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tipoff at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.