Mayé Touré finished with a career-high 27 points in the season opener. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
In a high-scoring affair, the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team fell in their first matchup of the 2022-23 season to the Harvard University Crimson on the road Monday night 88-73.
Leading the way for the Rams in the defeat was third-year forward Mayé Touré, who finished the night with a career-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists in just her second career start.
Rhody didn’t play the way they wanted throughout the first half, according to Rams head coach Tammi Reiss, ultimately causing them to fall behind early on.
“We didn’t start with the pace we wanted to play with, we didn’t start with the energy we wanted to play with, and I thought that Harvard played better than us [in the] first half,” Reiss said. “I was very pleased with the way we finished the game.”
The Rams took the first lead of the game, with the season’s first points coming by way of fifth-year transfer Emma Squires. Despite her prowess from beyond the arc, it was the only make-from-three all night for the former Richmond Spider. Third year guard Dolly Cairns was also limited to just one attempt from deep.
The first quarter was tightly contested, with the Crimson leading 15-13 through the first 10 minutes. However, Harvard quickly pulled away in the second quarter, exploding for a 9-0 scoring run. Rhody committed 14 first-half turnovers and found themselves trailing 40-29 at the half.
“In the first half, they pushed the ball down our throats,” Reiss said. “Then the second half, when we got a couple stops, and we got a couple turnovers, we were able to get out, and that’s how we made our runs.”
Touré proved to be a big part of Rhody’s momentum, closing out the second quarter with a pair of buckets before adding 13 more points in the second half. After playing last season primarily as a “defensive specialist” off the bench, according to Reiss, Touré proved to be a valuable presence in the paint in what was her first “big game” of her career.
“I was working for it, and now I think the work is paying off,” Touré said. “I’m just taking opportunities that are coming to me, but [I] also give credit to my coaches and my teammates because we push each other every day.”
Despite facing their largest deficit at 25 points in the third quarter, the Rams were able to take care of the ball and put together solid stretches in the second half. Graduate transfer Sayawni Lassiter drilled two three-pointers — including a buzzer-beater — to enter the final quarter down 73-56.
Rhody cut the Crimson’s lead down to 13 to start the fourth, but the Crimson regrouped after a timeout and went on to seal the win. Cairns finished as the Rams’ second top point scorer with 12, also tying Touré and Squires with a team-best 5 assists. Freshman Ines Debroise also notched double digits in her collegiate debut with an 11-point effort.
Up next for the Rams is their home opener at the Ryan Center against Dartmouth, their second straight Ivy League opponent to start the season. Despite the result, Reiss is “not discouraged at all” and knows it will take time for her new group to find their footing.
“They stayed with it, they stayed the course, and they fought until the end,” Reiss said.
Rhody will tip off against the Big Green Friday at 1 p.m., and the action can be streamed on ESPN+ and the Varsity Network.