RedStorm women trounce Tech

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - For the first 13 minutes of Tuesday night's River States Conference women's basketball matchup, West Virginia University-Tech went toe-to-toe with the University of Rio Grande.
     From that point on, though, the night belonged to the RedStorm.
     A 14-0 run by head coach David Smalley's team created some breathing room and led to an eventual 90-52 rout of the Golden Bears at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 8 in the latest NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll, improved to 23-1 overall and 12-0 in league play with a 14th consecutive victory.
     WVU-Tech, which had a three-game win streak snapped, dropped to 15-8 overall and 6-7 against RSC foes.
     After a frenetic start which continued into the early portion of the second quarter, the Golden Bears found themselves down just 26-24 after a layup by Alaira Evans with 7:15 left before halftime.
     But Rio Grande responded with a 14-0 run over the next 5-1/2 minutes, which precipitated a 40-27 halftime cushion.
     The scoring spurt also served as the initial part of a larger 51-14 run that gave the RedStorm a 77-38 after a layup by junior Sophia Kline (Sugar Grove, OH) with just over seven minutes left in the contest.
     The 39-point lead, which was reproduced again twice more, proved to be Rio's largest of the night.
     Freshman Allie Ellyson (Glenville, WV) scored a game-high 20 points and led four Rio players in double figures.
     Senior Marlee Grinstead (Albany, OH) had 19 points, four steals and two blocked shots, while Kline totaled 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals and sophomore Payton Johnson (Peebles, OH) tossed in 13 points.
     Sophomore Josie Graves (Barboursville, WV) added a game-high 10 rebounds and senior Maria Garcia Perez (Leon, Spain) had six assists for the RedStorm, who shot just over 47 percent overall (36-for-76) and turned 27 Tech turnovers into 24 points.
     The Golden Bears shot just 32 percent overall (20-for-62), while going 1-for-15 from three-point distance (6.7%) and 11-for-18 at the foul line (61.1%).
     Alexis Sexton had 14 points and five rebounds in a losing cause, while Cadence Stewart had 10 points and five rebounds of her own. Jazzlyn Nixon also had five rebounds.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action at Midway University on Thursday night in the makeup of an earlier postponement.
     Tip time is 6 p.m.