In their first Atlantic 10 quarterfinals appearance in 18 years, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Basketball team played a hard-fought game, but ultimately fell short to Virginia Commonwealth University in overtime, 64-57.
Facing a 10-point deficit with less than eight minutes in regulation, it looked like Rhody might let the game slip away. Despite this, URI went on to outscore VCU 15-5 to finish out the fourth quarter and force overtime.
While they did not come out victorious, Head Coach Tammi Reiss praised her team’s effort following the game.
“I’m proud of our kids, I thought they fought with everything they had,” Reiss said postgame. “They never gave up.”
The Rams started the game hot, leading 20-13 after the first quarter thanks to nine points from A-10 Co-Player of the Year Emmanuelle Tahane. From that point on, however, VCU began to take control and took the lead before halftime.
One of the biggest turning points for URI came late in the third quarter, when senior guard Johanna Muzet landed awkwardly on her left ankle and had to leave the game. Even though Rhody lost a huge presence offensively in their rebound leader, it opened up the door for other players to step in and contribute late.
“You never want to lose a player as good as (Muzet),” Reiss said. “But I think they did a great job at realizing, ‘This is my time. Now I can shine.’”
One of the players that stepped up was sophomore center Kassondra Brown. She had three points and a critical steal down the stretch to keep the Rams in the game.
Marta Vargas and Catherine Cairns also had big-time performances in the fourth quarter. They combined for 15 of the team’s 18 points in the final period, including three makes from beyond the arc. While they did not end up winning in the end, they knew they both gave their best effort to keep the game close.
“We want to win, and today we didn’t,” Vargas said. “But at least we fought through the end.”
Ultimately, VCU Rams’ attack on offense was too much to contain. They were led by senior guard Taya Robinson’s 24 points, with two other players also finishing in double digits.
Even with the loss, Rhode Island’s run this season has certainly been impressive. With a roster that will likely return everyone except the graduating Muzet and the hope of a more normal-looking offseason in the future, the sky’s the limit for the Rhode Island Rams.
This season, Rhody finished 11-8 and 11-4 in the A-10, only the third time in program history they finished with a winning league record. In addition to Tahane’s conference Co-Player of the Year award and place on the All-Conference First Team, Reiss was named A-10 Coach of the Year, sophomore forward Marie-Paule Foppossi made the All-Conference Second Team, and Cairns was a part of All-Conference Rookie Team.
“(It was) the first year playing together, most of us,” Cairns said. “It can only get better.”
For Coach Reiss’s squad, this season was an important part of the process of transforming into a winning program. In just two seasons, Rhody has become a team that can contend at the top of the conference, a trend that she knows can continue in the positive direction.
“I’m going to have high expectations of this group now,” said Reiss. “And they’re going to have that of themselves.
“You’ve got to learn from this. You got to let it motivate you.”
With Reiss inking a two-year contract extension earlier this week and nine players set to return next season, there is certainly reason to believe that this group can make another strong run next year.