The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team improved to 3-0 in its first two home games of the season with dominant performances this week over Merrimack College, 84-46, and Emmanuel College, 105-49.
On Friday night, the Rams hosted Merrimack for their home opener and did not hold back against the nonconference opponent, as every player on the roster put points on the board.
URI’s bench produced 39 points, led by first-year Vanessa Harris’ 13 points and fourth-year Ines Debroise’s 10 points.
“ Literally, we could have a new leading score every night,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “All nine of our kids that really see a lot of minutes can lead us in scoring, which is a luxury that we did not have last year.”
It was all Rhody from the beginning, as the Rams outscored the Warriors 28-4 in the first quarter. Second-year Palmire Mbu, Rhody’s leading scorer of the night, picked up eight of her 14 points in the first frame.
URI shot 54% from the field, while holding Merrimack to 28%, and went 6-15 from beyond the arc. The Rams also outscored Merrimack in the paint, picking up 50 points, compared to Merrimack’s 22.
There were contributions from all over Rhody’s roster under the basket, as the team earned 48 rebounds. Debroise had eight rebounds, which was a career high.
Three days following the victory, URI welcomed Division III school Emmanuel, which was the first meeting between the teams in program history.
Outscoring the Saint Bernards by double or more in all four quarters, the Rams’ entire roster continued to contribute offensively with the help of 23 offensive rebounds and 17 Emmanuel turnovers.
Fourth-year Brooklyn Gray scored the Rams’ first basket of the evening after snagging an offensive rebound. The Rams would finish with 26 second-chance points.
Defensively, Rhody came away with 36 rebounds for a total of 59 in comparison to Emmanuel’s 31.
“We want to play fast, so whether it’s a steal or a deflection, it will mostly be a defensive box out that gets the rebound, and now we can run,” Reiss said. “So, I tell them, your defense leads to offense.”
Mbu scored Rhody’s first triple at 6:52 in the first quarter as the shot clock was winding down, followed shortly by fifth-year Valentina Ojeda with a made three.
The Saint Bernards attempted to respond to the Rams by finishing the first quarter with five points in the final minute and opening the second quarter with a three-pointer, but that was as high of a scoring streak as they’d get.
Emmanuel’s leading scorer, second-year Tyra Blye, hit her second triple of the quarter at 7:31, but was shut out by the Rams’ defense for the remainder of the frame.
URI had its highest scoring quarter in the third with 32 points, going 13-21 from the field for a shooting percentage of 61%. By the end of the contest, URI put up 89 shot attempts, 10 of which came from Mbu.
“I tried to have the same energy even if we play a [different] division, but we try to play the same and keep working, so it felt good,” Mbu said.
Mbu followed up her career-high 14 points with a 24-point performance. Second-year Albina Syla and first-year Aimée Michel were the other Rams to have double-digit points in the contest.
In the fourth quarter, the Rams held Emmanuel to single digits, outscoring them 24-9.
“I’d say I was much happier when we got down and we guarded in the fourth quarter,” Reiss said. “The other three quarters, I didn’t think we did a great job on our switches, our communication and we gave up a lot of wide-open, uncontested shots. So, defense is always a work in progress, but I was glad we bore down and finished the last 10 minutes. Really solid going into our next game.”
The Rams will continue nonconference play, heading to Piscataway, New Jersey, to take on Rutgers University on Thursday at 11 a.m.
