In front of their freshly-unveiled Atlantic-10 co-championship banner on Tuesday, the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team cruised to a 91-40 win over the Sacred Heart Pioneers in their season opener.
The win marked the first time the Rams had exceeded the 90-point mark since the 2021-22 season. Led by fourth-years Tenin Magassa and Mayé Touré, the Rams recorded 58 points in the paint with a 22-6 assist-to-turnover ratio, holding the defending Northeast Conference Champions to just 23% shooting from the field on the night. Touré led the team with 20 points, while Magassa was not far behind with 17 – her highest total in Rhode Island colors. Both players took down six rebounds, with Magassa also totaling six blocks through 40 minutes.
“She was extremely aggressive today offensively, and powerful,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “And so now the combination of Tenin [Magassa] and Mayé [Touré], it’s very formidable.”
The Rams played with pace from tip-off, quickly jumping out to a 15-6 lead, largely thanks to five early assists from fifth-year Manhattan College transfer Dee Dee Davis in her first action as a Ram. Davis finished the night with six total assists, with fifth-year Syracuse transfer Teisha Hyman also dishing out five. Defensively, the Rams held the Pioneers to just six points through the first quarter as the visitors entered the second shooting just under 16% from the floor. Rhode Island continued to keep their foot on the gas on offense, eventually heading into the break with a 23-6 lead.
“The pieces we’ve added on the perimeter – Teisha Hyman, Dee Dee Davis, Ines [Debroise] has matured, Sophie [Vital] – defensively now, you see we pick up full court pressure for most of the game,” Reiss said. “We couldn’t do that last year. We weren’t athletic enough…I like to press. I like to play fast.”
The scoreless run from the visitors would continue deep into the second quarter, totaling almost 12 minutes before they eventually broke the stretch with under five minutes to play in the half. Through the opening 20 minutes, Magassa notched 15 of her 17 total points, leading the way at the half as Rhode Island entered the locker room with a 39-15 lead.
“If Sacred Heart was gonna beat us, they were gonna have to run through a brick wall to do it,” Reiss said. “From jump to finish, everyone who stepped on the floor had that mentality.”
The second half was more of the same from the Rams, who continued to pound the paint, stretching their lead to as much as 30 in the third quarter while once again holding the Pioneers scoreless for almost six minutes. In their most efficient quarter, the Rams outscored the visitors 27-13, heading into the final 10 minutes with a 66-27 advantage.
The lead allowed Reiss to empty her bench in the final 10 minutes as all 12 dressed players saw the floor for the Rams. This included collegiate debuts for first-years Sophia Vital, Katie Ledden and Eva Dechant. Dechent opened her collegiate account in style with a three-point effort from the left corner in the fourth quarter, picking up five points in 10 minutes of action. Vital and Ledden brought in a rebound apiece, with Vital also picking up a pair of assists.
“Very happy with our freshmen today,” Reiss said. “Very happy. I thought Sophie [Vital] at the point guard finally pushed the pace we needed her to push, she distributed, she kicked ahead. I thought Eva had great minutes for us, very aggressive scoring and played pretty good defense. Then Sophie Sene and Katie [Ledden] when they got in did exactly what we asked.”
First-year Anaelle Dutat also finished just shy of a double-double for the Rams, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring eight points. First-year Sophie Sene picked up a career-high six points as the URI bench accounted for 30 total points on the night. Rhode Island also forced 28 points off of 22 Sacred Heart turnovers, while not allowing Sacred Heart a single point off of their six first-half turnovers. The Rams did not commit a single turnover in the second half.
“It was a great experience, it feels really good to be in this culture,” Hyman said after her first game as a Ram. “I had a good time with my new coach, my new teammates and [we’re] just looking for some more wins.”
The Rams will look to continue to build early-season momentum as they host the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Thursday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.