Rams Head Coach Tammi Reiss danced her way to the ladder to cut down the nets on Sunday, and more dancing is on the way for the University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team.
After a 30-year wait, the team is heading back to the NCAA Tournament. Reiss built the program into a winner; now, for the first time, she has built the program into a champion.
“If I got fired tomorrow, I could care less,” Reiss said. “All I wanted was these student athletes to feel what it felt like for confetti to come down and achieve their last goal. I swear I was going to sell my soul to the Devil to make that happen.”
Three games in three days was the task for the top seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Rhode Island leaned on its conference-leading defense and a Most Outstanding Player-worthy weekend from second-year center Albina Syla.
Finishing as one of the top four teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Rams had to wait until Friday for their quarterfinals tilt against No. 8 seed Loyola University Chicago.
Fourth-year guard Brooklyn Gray got Rhody’s first eight points, as the team built an early 10-2 lead. She finished her quarter with a pair of free throws, becoming the first of five Rams to reach double figures throughout the game.
“You have to always be on your toes with us,” Gray said. “It’s not necessarily a specific gameplan that you can throw at us that we won’t be able to attack.”
After Rhode Island held a game-high 16-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Ramblers fought back to a four-point deficit. Third-year guard Sophia Vital sealed the game on an acrobatic and-one layup.
“[The defender] was just pressuring me crazy,” Vital said. “I just got to go by her and get a bucket; at that point, I had to.”
Free throws finished off the 71-64 win to tie the program’s single season wins record. It also marked the third-straight season with a win in the tournament for Reiss, who took a different approach to preparing her team for the postseason.
“This year we’ve cut back a lot,” Reiss said. “It’s a little bit more relaxed, you’ve got to keep them on edge, but not so intense, enjoy the moment. Have them prepared, but the most important thing is just have them feeling good when they go to play.”
Rhody surpassed their wins record in Saturday’s semifinals against No. 4 Davidson College, finishing strong to secure a 55-46 victory after trailing 29-25 at halftime.
“The second half was our half,” Reiss said. “We got back to what we do discipline-wise, and our gameplan they executed it to a tee.”
Syla set the tone with three first-quarter buckets in the post. She finished with 22 points while setting career-highs with 14 rebounds and four blocks.
“We rode on her shoulders today,” Reiss said. “We got the ball where we wanted it, and she made every big shot.”
Vital had another vital score to put the game on ice in the fourth quarter, knocking down her second three-pointer of the day to get the Rams’ lead to 11 with under four minutes to go as URI’s defense held Davidson to single digits in both quarters of the second half.
“I like making big shots for my team,” Vital said. “Being in those clutch moments is my favorite thing ever.”
It was a home-crowd environment for Rhode Island across the first two games at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Virginia.
“I love our Rhody nation,” Reiss said. “We love our fans, they’re ride or die. They’ve been with me for seven years now.”
Rhode Island’s crowd had competition in Sunday’s championship against in-state No. 2 George Mason University. With the regular season co-champions squaring off, a similar second-half performance sent the Rams to March Madness.
“I have never been prouder of a group coming out of halftime,” Reiss said. “They came out of halftime and just executed, especially defensively. We got the ball to where we needed it to go, and we started scoring.”
Gray led the Rams as their lone double-digit scorer despite injuring her ankle during the game, finishing with 16 points. Half of her points came from a perfect day at the free-throw line. Rhode Island ended the game 7-8 from the stripe to close out a tight 53-51 championship win.
“This was an important moment for me and my team,” Gray said. “I knew that if it’s something I could push through, that I’d do that.”
Trailing 15-7 after the first quarter, Rhody worked the margin down to one point before taking the lead to start the third quarter and never looked back.
“We just found a way to execute against their zone,” Gray said. “We’re just a team that finds a way to get it done.”
Both Gray and Vital joined Syla, representing Rhode Island on the Atlantic 10 All-Championship Team. One year removed from a quarterfinals tournament exit and a middling 17-16 overall record, Reiss’ Rams turned in the program’s first conference tournament championship.
“We wanted to put Rhode Island on the map,” Reiss said. “After last season, it felt like we took a step back, and then all of a sudden, here we come. This one is extremely satisfying because it’s the first and the only.”
Reiss vouched for her conference foe, the University of Richmond’s at-large case postgame, the Spiders were the No. 3 seed before falling to Mason in the semifinals. Securing the A-10’s automatic bid, Rhode Island won’t have to worry about any selection committee.
“You want to go in, and you want to represent your league to the best of your ability,” Reiss said. “I want my kids to enjoy it, we’re going to have fun, but we’re going to be competitive.”
Richmond took down the Rams in the 2024 title game; two years later, it was Rhode Island’s time. URI will learn its first round opponent and location alongside everyone else watching the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Selection Show, airing on Sunday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
“Whoever we play, we’re just thankful that we’re able to go dancing,” Reiss said. “We’ll take anybody, it doesn’t matter.”
