What's Going On?
Rider currently on five-game skid, all losses by double-digits

By Leo D. Rommel

The women’s basketball team has played five games this season, none of which – in the grand scheme of things – have meant much of anything.

Good thing.

Even though sophomore guard Maura Gillooly led five Broncs in double digits with a career-high 14 points off the bench, Rider dropped to 0-5 for the season on Saturday following an 88-76 non-conference defeat at home to La Salle.

“We started off good again, we ended well again but we had that break in between where we couldn’t get anything going,” said junior guard Janele Henderson, who had 12 points and three rebounds in the game. “The momentum changed and we couldn’t get a stop.”

La Salle was led by senior forward Crista Rickets, who led all scorers with 19 points in just 19 minutes of playing time. The Explorers also had three players come off the bench to hit for double figures. Leading 24-22 with 8:40 remaining in the first half, La Salle surged to the lead on a 14-1 run, opening up a 38-23 lead with two minutes remaining.

“You like to think it’s all defense, but in this case it was a combination of defense and your opponent just missing shots,” said La Salle Head Coach Tom Lochner of his team’s run before halftime. “We made shots and they didn’t. I know it’s straightforward but sometimes it’s as simple as that.”

Ahead 46-30 at intermission, La Salle held Rider without a basket through the first five and a half minutes of the second half while scoring 11 straight points to build up a 27-point cushion, 57-30. They led by as many as 28 before Gillooly and freshman forward Ashley Anderson scored six points apiece to spearhead a 21-5 Rider run in the last five minutes to make the final score respectable.

“Overall, the game was a learning experience,” said senior guard Kara Borel, who finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds. “We played well at the end and had there been another 20 minutes in the game, we would have won.”

La Salle (7-1) entered the game undefeated and won for the sixth time on the road this year, which has not happened since the 1991-92 season. It is the most road wins for the Explorers since the 1997-98 season, when they won seven.

Most disappointing is the fact that lopsided defeats have become something of a norm for the team as of late. Rider has trailed by 16 or more points in every one of its games this year and none of them has been determined by less than 12 points. It has also lost by more than 30 points twice – on Nov. 12 against Rice (92-57) and on Nov. 26 at Hofstra (85-52).

The biggest lead Rider has had this season is a mere four points.

Nonetheless, because only conference games influence a team’s standing in the MAAC – and Rider has yet to play a conference opponent – Head Coach Tori Harrison maintains the season has not yet really begun.

“Friday is a new season,” Harrison said. “We used the first non-conference games to get a grasp on what we can do and the things we can’t do and while we are still working on those things, I told the team that it’s a new season, everyone is 0-0 (in the conference) and we will go from there.”

Rider plays its first conference game tonight at rival Saint Peter’s (4-2 overall) at 7 p.m., and will play another conference rival, Loyola (3-4 overall), on Sunday, Dec. 10, at 2 p.m. Both teams swept the Broncs in their season series’ last season.