The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team made a couple of statements this past week, winning both of their games by double digits.
First, they defeated the University of Massachusetts at home, before going on the road to get a win over George Washington University.
In a battle between the two teams who finished as co-regular season Atlantic 10 Champions a season ago, Rhode Island took on Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center. The Rams led from start to finish on their way to a 63-48 win.
URI came into this one off a 75-47 win on the road against La Salle to move to 13-8 and 5-3 in conference. Meanwhile, it has been a rebuilding year for UMass after losing their head coach and all of their starters from last season. They came into this one at 3-17 and looking to break a six game losing streak.
The Rams came out of the gates hot, jumping out to an 8-0 lead and forcing UMass to use an early timeout. They got contributions from a lot of different pieces early on, as their first six field goals were all scored by different players.
“When we’ve gone down quickly, it’s been a struggle to battle back,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “How you start the game is imperative, if kids don’t have the juice and the energy, they will come out and sit until they’re ready to give what is needed.”
The Minutewomen started 1-9 from the field, but shot better towards the latter half of the first quarter, making four of their last six shots. They were able to respond to the 8-0 start from URI and keep it close to make the score 17-11 at the end of the quarter.
Fourth-year forward Mayè Toure made a big impact early on in the second quarter, on both ends of the court. She was able to make baskets on back to back possessions and then followed it up with a block on the defensive side. UMass continued to fight back and eventually went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead down to just two at 25-23. Third-year guard Sophie Phillips stopped the run with a three pointer – three of her 10 points in the first half. She started the game going 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from long range.
At the half, it was a 32-27 lead for URI. After looking like it could get away from them early, UMass was led by eight points from both fourth-year guard Alexsia Rose and fifth-year forward Bre Bellamy to hang in the game. The stats were all relatively even after one half, including field goal percentage, which was at 48% for the Rams and 46% for the Minutewomen.
Once again, early in the second half UMass was able to cut the lead down to just two points at 32-30. However, this ended up being the closest they would get the rest of the way. URI started to ramp up the full court pressure on defense and forced multiple turnovers. The Rams forced six turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half, and nine turnovers in the third quarter as a whole.
“Our goal today was really to disrupt them,” Reiss said. “We started trapping, denying, and really just got them out of sorts so they couldn’t pick us apart in the second half.”
URI went on a much-needed 7-0 run midway through the third quarter led by a couple of buckets in the paint by Toure and a three point play by fifth-year guard Dee Dee Davis. Despite some shooting struggles involving a 0-6 drought from the field, URI outscored UMass 15-7 in the third quarter and extended their lead to 47-34.
The Rams stayed in control of the game throughout the final quarter, keeping up their intensity on defense and on the offensive glass. They ended up forcing 23 turnovers in the game and had 13 offensive rebounds compared to just four for UMass. These numbers exemplified what Rhode Island wants to be all about as a team, according to Reiss.
“You have to hang your hat on something going into the second part of the season,” Reiss said. “We need to show up everyday with toughness, win the boards, and be able to defend.”
Second-year forward Anaelle Dutat and fifth-year guard Teisha Hyman added exclamation points, both making jumpers in the final minute to complete a 63-48 win for Rhode Island. Toure led the team with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Following this one, URI turned their attention to two road games in a row, where they would travel to face George Washington and Duquesne. The Rams have struggled on the road this year, sitting at 3-6, but Reiss made it clear that they just need to focus on what’s ahead of them.
“We’re taking it one game at a time now,” Reiss said. “We really have to focus on us and how we play both at home and on the road. That’s all about defense, rebounding, and taking care of the ball.”
The Rams got off to a rough start on offense against George Washington on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., going the first four minutes without scoring a point. After trailing 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, they were able to tie the game up at 26 heading into the half.
The second half was much more reminiscent of what was seen on Saturday afternoon against UMass. The Rams had a dominating effort in the third quarter, outscoring George Washington 24-9. They stayed in control throughout the fourth on their way to a 66-52 win and their third straight victory to move to 15-8 on the season.
Phillips led the way for Rhode Island with 12 points, while Davis and Hyman both added 11 points of their own.
Next up, Rhode Island will look to keep their momentum going when they play the second of those two road games and travel to play Duquesne on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game is available to be streamed on ESPN+.