Women’s basketball drops sixth straight game

Greg Clark | Guard Maia Moffitt drives to the hoop.

“It’s just a matter of increasing their basketball IQ.” This was Rhode Island women’s basketball coach Daynia La-Force’s sentiments following a 12 point home loss to Dayton this past Sunday.

It was a frustrating afternoon for the Rams, as they hung around with a Flyers squad that is in the upper echelon of the Atlantic-10, but could not make a signature run to catapult themselves to a win. The Rams were able to turn Dayton over 20 times in this contest, but made mistakes of their own, turning the ball over 23 times on the afternoon.

“In terms of teams that are in the top of our conference, Dayton is definitely one and has been one for a long period of time,” said La-Force. “The mere fact that we fought hard and did some really good things really gives me hope that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Dayton jumped out to a quick lead after the first quarter, going up 22-12. The Flyers were spurred by the great play of guard Lauren Cannatelli, who poured in 24 points on 6-14 shooting. Cannatelli also shot 5-12 from deep and went 7-8 from the charity stripe. Cannatelli lead all scorers in this game. Dayton had no other players in double figures, although they did have two players with nine points, forward Brittney Ward and guard Jayla Scaife.

For the Rams, the offense was run through junior guard Elemy Colome. Colome finished with 18 points, two assists and two rebounds. Colome shot both 50 percent from the field, and beyond the arc and went a perfect 6-6 from the line.

“I just try to stay confident,” said Colome. “If I was missing a couple shots before I would tend to shy away from shooting because I would lose confidence. As long as I stay confident regardless if I’m on or off, I know that I can be very helpful.”

As a team the Rams struggled from the free throw line, only shooting 17-29 from the stripe, or 58.6 percent. Rhode Island did lose the rebounding battle by 10, but accounted for an astonishing 11 blocks as a team against Dayton. Junior center Nicole Jorgensen was the team leader in blocks with four. After starting 2-2 in Atlantic 10 play, and winning against Saint Louis on the road for the first time in program history, Rhody has now lost their last six games, also losing Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia, dropping that contest to the La Salle Explorers 77 to 71. Elemy Colome continued to impress as she scored 25 points for the Rams. Davida Dale added a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Nicole Jorgensen scored 11 points, and grabbed eight rebounds.

The Rams used the Ryan Center to their advantage in non-conference play, as they went 3-3 and won the Ocean State Tip-Off tournament for the first time in program history on their home floor. In Atlantic 10 play however, the Rams have gone winless in five attempts at the Ryan Center, missing out on key times to build upon their non-conference successes. However, there are positives in this campaign as the Rams have already doubled their conference win total from last year and more than doubled their overall wins.