The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team played in two road games over the last week, taking down the University of Maine 69-56 on Sunday before heading to Providence College and claiming a 57-51 victory on Wednesday.
In Orono, Maine, the Rams took on the 3-6 Black Bears and engaged in a tight battle until late in the fourth quarter.
Fourth-year Brooklyn Gray was tied with first-year Vanessa Harris in Rhody scoring with 18 points, shooting 9-13 from the field. Despite the tight contest, the Rams shot 57.8% from the field in comparison to Maine’s 39.6%.
Rhody posted a season-high 16 turnovers, which the Black Bears were able to score 19 points off of.
It was also a quiet afternoon from beyond the arc for the Rams, as they shot 5-13. Harris made up three of the five triples.
After second-year Albina Syla hit a layup at the beginning of the second quarter to go up 19-12, Black Bears fifth-year forward Adrianna Smith hit a three-pointer to respond. Smith led both teams in scoring with 26 points.
At the eight-minute mark in the fourth quarter, after Maine stayed within four points throughout a majority of the contest, Smith hit a jumper to tie the game 51-51.
Following the bucket, the Rams went on a seven-point scoring streak and didn’t stop there. Second-year Palmire Mbu hit a three-pointer at 4:37 to get the Rams ahead by eight points, breaking the dam open for the remainder of the game.
Rhody jumped ahead by as many as 15 points with fourth-year Ines Debroise’s free throws in the final minute of play.
Through the Rams’ first 10 games played, they were 8-2, the second-best start to a season in program history.
Following the victory, the team traveled to in-state rival PC and engaged in a back-and-forth battle, where the Rams overcame a Friars team that didn’t quit until the very end.
The Friars scored the first points of the contest and went up 4-2, but back-to-back triples by Mbu and third-year Sophia Vital led an eight-point run that put the Rams up 12-4.
After trading three-pointers in the final two minutes of the first quarter, Gray was fouled from beyond the arc and converted three foul shots to end the quarter with an 18-9 Rhody lead. Gray recorded 10 points in the quarter.
Fifth-year Valentina Ojeda extended the Rams’ lead to 13 after knocking down a second-chance three-point jumper and a free throw in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
The Friars outscored the Rams 11-4 in the remaining seven minutes of the quarter, cutting their deficit to six. URI didn’t score a point in the final 2:57 of the half.
Setting the tone in the second half, Providence fifth-year Teneisia Brown scored consecutive jumpers before fifth-year Sabou Gueye hit the game-tying layup to make it 26-26.
Providence fifth-year Payton Dunbar scored back-to-back three-pointers that got the Friars up 34-28 halfway through the third quarter.
Similarly to the second quarter, the Rams went scoreless in the final 2:56 of the third, as the Friars took a 36-31 lead into the final frame.
Harris scored Rhody’s first points of the fourth quarter, followed by an Mbu layup that got the team within two. A Harris three-pointer marked the team’s first since 2:57 in the second quarter.
At the end of a six-point run by the Rams, an Ojeda make from the charity stripe tied the game at 42-42.
Gray made two free throws to regain the lead for Rhody, which was followed by four more points from the foul line to extend it.
Harris converted a fast-break layup and made a three-point jumper with just over a minute remaining that put the Rams up by seven.
With time winding down on the clock and the Friars still down by three, Vital was fouled at the 30-second mark. After going 1-2 at the line to go up by four, Providence could not respond, and two more free throws by Ojeda sealed the game for the Rams.
“I call my team the cardiac kids because every game, no matter what, we could be up 20, 30, and for some reason we let them back in the game,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “Not proud of our second and third quarter, offensively especially. But the resiliency and the fortitude of our team in the last five minutes of that game, that’s where the toughness has to come.”
URI will return home for its final nonconference matchup of the season against Wagner College on Dec. 19 at 11 a.m., which will be available for streaming on ESPN+. Radio broadcasts will be available on RIU2.org and The Varsity Network.
