The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team bounced back from its loss against La Salle with a 69-39 victory over Fordham University on Saturday, but took its second loss in three games with a 72-46 defeat to the University of Richmond.
The battle of the Rams was preceded by a pre-game ceremony honoring URI’s five graduating players: fifth-year guard Ta’Viyanna Habib, fifth-year guard Valentina Ojeda, fourth-year guard Brooklyn Gray, second-year forward Palmire Mbu and fourth-year guard Ines Debroise.
A strong student section for the first time this season led to 2,528 fans for Saturday’s senior day game, the best non-education day overall attendance in program history.
“I want to thank the students for coming out,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “It was absolutely amazing. That’s the best student section we’ve ever had. In the end, it was a good day to be a Rhody Ram.”
An 8-6 lead with 5:55 left in the quarter was the only lead Rhody held in the first quarter, as URI finished the quarter missing its last five shots from the field.
Fordham didn’t take advantage of URI’s scoring drought, as it hit two of its final 13 shots and none of its last five. Following sixth-year guard Tia Morgan’s layup, Fordham went on a 3:37 scoring drought to end the quarter.
Rhody separated itself in the second quarter as second-year center Albina Syla scored 10 of her game-high 16 points. Fordham went on a five-minute scoring drought in the middle of the quarter that directly coincided with an 11-0 run by URI.
First-year Aimée Michel hit the first half’s only three during URI’s 11-0 run. Michel finished with 11 points as she hit the double-digit point mark for the second time this season.
“[Aimée] was ready today, and she had a game today,” Reiss said. “Aimée was our player of the game today. She’s going to be a great player because she’ll just outwork you.”
Fourth-year guard Alexis Black was the only Fordham player to hit a shot from the field, scoring four of the team’s five second-quarter points.
URI continued to build on its lead with a 12-4 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Third-year guard Lakresha Edwards hit Fordham’s first three-pointer of the game with 16 seconds left to bring the score to 44-28 heading into the fourth.
After another Edwards three to start the fourth, Rhody went on a 17-2 run over the next four and a half minutes. The Rams closed out with a 25-point fourth quarter to take a 30-point win.
The Rams would head back on the road for the final time in the regular season for a matchup against Richmond on Wednesday.
After Gray hit a jumper to give the Rams a 7-5 lead with 6:33 left in the first quarter, the Spiders went on a 22-2 run in which they hit six of their seven first-quarter threes. Those two points for Rhody came from Gray and first-year Vanessa Harris, both going 1-2 from the line.
The Rams held Richmond to just five points in the second quarter after allowing 27 in the first. Six different Rams scored in a 15-point second quarter, with Harris leading the way with four. A 6-0 run to end the quarter brought Richmond’s lead down to just eight heading into halftime.
The Spiders regained their overwhelming offensive output after halftime, making six of their seven threes in the third quarter. The Rams continued to struggle from the field, shooting 4-17 from the field.
It was more of the same from Richmond as the Spiders overwhelmed the Rams offensively in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Rams 18-6. Richmond second-year guard Alicia Newell finished with a career-high 20 points and a career-high five makes from beyond the arc.
In what was a tale of two games, Richmond finished a season-high 53.3% from beyond the arc, while the Rams finished a season-low 17.4% from beyond the arc, along with 27% from the field.
The Spiders’ 16 threes tied their season-high in made three-pointers with their 92-44 win over Saint Louis University on Feb. 4, while this was the third straight game for the Rams with four or fewer made threes.
Rhody will head back to Kingston for the final game of the regular season against George Washington University, where a win would clinch the program’s second A-10 regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the A-10 tournament.
The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+ at 2:30 p.m, with listening options available on The Varsity Network and riu2.org.
