The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team saw its program-record 17-game winning streak snapped, being taken down by La Salle University on Wednesday after extending it over George Mason University on Saturday.
Traveling to Fairfax, Va., for a matinee game with the Patriots, the Rams came in with only one win separating them in the standings.
It took both teams time to hit a groove in the first quarter, with neither straying from a two-point differential until the final 22 seconds of the quarter, where fifth-year guard Valentina Ojeda hit a triple to take a 16-13 lead.
The Patriots took a 20-19 lead just three minutes into the second quarter before the URI offense turned it up another level. The Rams went on a 9-0 run, started and finished by fourth-year guard Brooklyn Gray.
Gray added four shots from the charity stripe, and second-year forward Palmire Mbu knocked down a triple to close out the second quarter with a double-digit lead for Rhody.
Fifth-year forward Hawa Komara, who played for URI in her previous three seasons, worked the paint to start the third quarter, notching six points. Komara’s tip-in with 5:59 remaining cut the Rams’ lead to five.
Back-to-back layups by third-year guard Sophia Vital kept the Rhody lead manageable, as the Rams entered the final frame up 13 points.
Rhody scored 20 of their 23 fourth-quarter points in the paint, building what capped at a 19-point lead late in the quarter.
Led by Gray’s team-high 30-point performance, the Rams cruised their way to a 79-63 win.
“I’m really proud of my team, but more importantly, I’m really proud of [Gray],” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “There’s a reason we brought her to Rhode Island, and tonight you saw the reason.”
As a team, the Rams shot 56% from the field and had two more players in double digits, Vital and first-year guard Vanessa Harris, each with 11 points.
“A special thing one of my teammates said to me today… ‘You shoot it, I’ll get your rebound,’” Gray said. “It was just instilling that confidence in me to keep working and keep getting to the rim.”
Following the win, the Rams made their way to Philadelphia for a Wednesday night matchup with the Explorers, where dry offensive spurts ended up costing the Rams, giving them their first loss since Nov. 26, 2025.
Second-year center Albina Syla scored the Rams’ first six points of the evening and picked up the assist on a fourth-year guard Ines Debroise three-point play.
La Salle’s leading scorer, fourth-year guard Ashleigh Connor, hit a three-pointer to cut the Rhody lead to 9-8, but that was as close as things would get in the quarter. Harris and Syla combined for nine points in the remaining 3:35, putting the Rams up 20-10 after the first quarter.
Despite Syla opening the second quarter with two consecutive scores for the Rams, the Explorers jumped out on a 13-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 25-24.
“We couldn’t get stops today defensively at all,” Reiss said. “Even if we scored, we just couldn’t stop them.”
Debroise scored Rhody’s first field goal in over seven minutes to take a 27-25 lead into halftime.
A triple from Mbu halfway through the third quarter sparked an 11-2 scoring run by the Rams that gave them a double-digit lead once again, but the Explorers wouldn’t go out quietly.
Second-year guard Joan Quinn’s free throws in the last seconds of the third quarter carried momentum into the final quarter for the Explorers. Back-to-back three-pointers for La Salle put them in front once again, as URI failed to record a field goal until four minutes remained.
Vital’s layup tied the game at 56-56, but the Rams failed to get any closer to victory, as Quinn responded with a three-point play. The Explorers held on to their lead despite the Rams getting two open looks from beyond the arc in the final 15 seconds.
“I just think they outplayed us,” Reiss said. “They wanted it more. We were up 14, and then we [turned] the ball over and [gave] up threes; the exact opposite of our game plan.”
Rhody’s record in conference play falls to 14-1, and they will return to the Ryan Center for a chance at redemption against Fordham University on Saturday at 1 p.m. The contest will be available for streaming on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts on RIU2.org and The Varsity Network.
