RedStorm Women Seek Sweep of Cougars

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The University of Rio Grande women’s basketball team returns to action on Tuesday night, December 17th, when they hit the road to take on for America Mideast Conference and Mid-Ohio Conference rival Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the brand new Physical Education Center in Mount Vernon.

In its last time out, Rio Grande (9-2) was able to hold off an upset-minded Alderson-Broaddus squad with a late rally for an 81-73 victory on December 9 at Newt Oliver Arena.

The RedStorm put together a critical 10-1 run which turned a 67-61 deficit with 5:50 remaining into a 71-68 lead with 3:09 left – a lead that Rio would not relinquish.

Rio Grande shot 55.2 percent from the field (32-for-58), but connected on just 14 of its 25 free throw tries. Over their last two games combined, the RedStorm are just 36 of 69 from the charity stripe.

The RedStorm were led in the victory by junior Brianna Thomas’ (Maplewood, NJ) 26 points and sophomore Sarah Bonar’s (Hartford, OH) 19-point performance.

In addition to Thomas and Bonar, freshman guard Sharday Baines (East Cleveland, OH) dished out nine assists and freshman forward Brooke Marcum (Vinton, OH) grabbed 10 rebounds to lead their respective categories.

Thomas continues to lead the team in both scoring (19.4) and assists (5.6) per game, while Marcum leads the team with 9.6 rebounds per contest.

Mount Vernon (1-8) suffered their eighth-straight setback with a 77-60 loss on the road to Huntington (IN) on December 7.

The Cougars were led in the loss by Megan Beidelman’s double-double performance consisting of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Rio Grande won the earlier meeting between the two teams, 96-76, on November 12 at the Newt Oliver Arena.

A live audio-only webcast of the game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm, with pregame beginning at 6:45 p.m.