The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team finished just above .500, with an overall record of 17-16, and earned the fifth spot in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings.
After shaky non-conference play, which included a five-game losing streak, the Rams turned things around in the second half of the season, finishing with an 11-7 conference record.
Rhody had a solid start in the season’s first seven games, going 4-3 with a couple of tight losses. However, the first turning point in the season came at the start of the aforementioned skid, beginning with a loss against a Caitlin Clark-less University of Iowa in the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 28.
After also falling to Idaho State University in Mexico, the Rams lost to in-state rival Providence College on Dec. 4, a disheartening one to drop, especially when having home-court advantage.
By this point, over a month into the season, it was clear that University of San Diego transfer, fourth-year center Harsimran “Honey” Kaur, added a much-needed spark to URI. In fact, looking back, it’s hard to imagine how different this Rams squad would have been without Kaur.
Kaur ultimately led all Rams in scoring, averaging 12.2 points per game, and finished second to third-year forward Anaelle Dutat in rebounding.
Back-to-back 12-point losses to Ivy League opponents, Harvard University and Princeton University, topped off the skid two games before starting conference play. Amid the losing streak, it became clear that the Rams had a case of the third quarter woes, often falling apart before the final frame and putting themselves in hard positions to bounce back.
Despite this, there came a positive turning point for the Rams at the beginning of A-10 play. Rhody went on a three-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents 242-148 in the stretch.
This streak not only proved the offense could turn on, but more importantly, that Rhody’s defense could hold opponents to very few points, as they ultimately finished first in the conference with an average of 55.2 points allowed per game.
It’s hard to recap this season without mentioning fourth-year guard Sophie Phillips, who followed up her historic third season with relatively similar stats, averaging 9.5 points per game. Phillips added 321 points to her overall tally, bringing her just short of 1,000 points in her career with 999.
On Jan. 2 against St. Bonaventure University, URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss earned her 100th career win with the Rams, becoming the fastest coach to reach the milestone in program history. In her sixth season in Kingston, Reiss has continued to elevate each player on her roster, making it a priority to develop her girls on and, more importantly, off the court.
Another Ram that Reiss has called her “daughter” is fourth-year forward Hawa Komara, a crucial contributor that started in all 33 games this season. Komara silently put up great rebounding performances, finishing 13th in the A-10, which was overshadowed by Dutat and Kaur in the top 10.
The month of January had its ups and downs, capped off by another three-game winning streak, putting URI at a 6-3 conference record. Rhody won and lost the games they were expected to, with the only notable factor being not scoring more than 70 points with the exception of their 82-48 win over the Bonnies.
By this point, second-year guard Sophia Vital had become a standout player for the Rams, getting more and more minutes as the season progressed.
Known for her grit and willingness to lay her body on the line to make a play, Vital had a career high in points on Feb. 5 with 20 against Duquesne University. This game was another turning point for the Rams, as it was a hard-fought win against a good opponent and sparked another victory at the Ryan Center against a well-matched foe in the University of Dayton three days later.
The momentum carried on with a big faceoff against familiar postseason opponent Saint Joseph’s University, where URI hosted the Hawks and took them down in exciting 70-65 fashion. For most of the season, it looked like the top three competitors in the A-10, the University of Richmond, George Mason University and SJU, were untouchable; that was until URI’s victory on Feb. 19.
Just a week after the huge win, URI went on the road and was taken down by Saint Louis University, a bottom-five team in the A-10. Just as URI fans were ready to write off the loss as a bad day, the Rams followed it up with yet another loss to a bottom-five opponent in George Washington University at home.
This loss was especially concerning, as Reiss considered it one of the “worst offensive outputs I’ve seen of [the team] all season.”
Additionally, Reiss expressed her concern for the locker room, claiming there wasn’t a clear-cut leader. This late in the season, it’s quite staggering that there were still mindset issues. This caused URI to lose out on a double-bye in the A-10 Tournament, finishing as the fifth seed.
After getting its revenge against GW in the second round by a 52-41 score, URI was set to face the Hawks once again. In the previous season’s postseason, these two teams met, and URI came out on top on its way to a run that ultimately fell short in the A-10 Championship. However, this time they would have no such luck, being defeated 53-50 in overtime in the quarterfinals.
This loss could be foreseen much ahead of time, attributed to the locker room issues and offensive struggles previously mentioned by Reiss. This offseason will be quite interesting for Reiss’ squad after a promising start fizzled out at the finish line.
