RedStorm women upend No. 21 Patriots

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The long-awaited upset of the 2013-14 season for head coach David Smalley and the University of Rio Grande women’s basketball came to fruition on Saturday afternoon, as the RedStorm defeated No.21 Cumberlands, 88-81, in Mid-South Conference action at the Newt Oliver Arena.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Rio, which improved to 15-8 overall and 4-7 in league play. The victory also marks the first win in six tries against ranked opponents this season.

“We had the upset against Georgetown and let it slip through our hands,” Smalley said, referring to Thursday’s five-point loss to the No. 6 Tigers – a game in which the RedStorm blew a 21-point halftime lead. “I think we took another big step tonight as a squad. We really stepped up the intensity down the stretch and manage the ball well on offense. Cumberlands is a very powerful and explosive team and we just kept matching up with them and knocking down buckets when we needed them. We needed something like the Georgetown loss to make us mature a bit and I think that really helped us tonight.”

Cumberlands jumped out to its largest lead of the game at 19-13 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half, but the RedStorm would counter with an 11-4 run in a span of just over 3-1/2 minutes thanks to scoring efforts from five different players.

The remainder of the half would go back and forth and eventually end with the Patriots owning a 46-42 advantage at the intermission.

Rio Grande, which had won just three times in the previous nine games when it trailed at halftime, emerged from the lockerroom with energy and embarked on a 17-6 run over the first 7-1/2 minutes to take a 59-52 lead.

While the run proved to be an impressive offensive output, it was the Rio Grande defense that buckled down and allowed just one Cumberlands field goal over the course of the first eight minutes of the second half.

“Cumberlands really just came out in the second half and turned the ball over,” Smalley said. “Some were unforced, but I’d like to think our defense played a part in that. I don’t know if Cumberlands expended too much energy against Shawnee State on Thursday night or not, but our defense just blanketed them in the second half. I can’t say enough about how proud I am of this team right now.”

Cumberlands did not go away quietly down the stretch of the game, though, as they pulled within one field goal five different times. The RedStorm responded each time, though, with a bucket of their own and relied on their interior play, as freshman forward Alexis Payne (Deep Water, WV) recorded eight of her 14 points in the final 7-1/2 minutes of the contest.

Leading 78-75 with two minutes remaining, the RedStorm administered a dagger to the Patriots in the form of a 7-0 run which produced an 85-75 lead with just over a minute left and allowed Smalley to breathe a sigh of relief.

“We all took big steps tonight,” Smalley said. “It was really just a great team win over a great basketball team. Sarah Bonar, who didn’t feel the greatest for the second consecutive game, really came up big for us.”

Shooting-wise, the RedStorm connected on 49 percent of its tries from the field overall (30 of 61), 35 percent from beyond the three-point arc (6 of 17) and 68 percent from the free throw stripe (22 of 32).

Cumberlands, which slipped to 14-7 overall and 8-3 in the MSC, shot 34 percent overall (24 of 69), 34 percent from three-point range (8 of 23) and 86 percent (25 of 29) from the free throw line.

Rio Grande was able to hold the Patriots to just 28 percent from the field in the second half, including a stone-cold 14 percent from three-point range.

The RedStorm also enjoyed a 45-41 edge in rebounding and committed one less turnover (16) than their guests.

Junior guard Brianna Thomas (Maplewood, NJ) fell one point short of her career-high by finishing with 32 points, nine assists and five rebounds, while sophomore forward Sarah Bonar (Hartford, OH) contributed with a 19-point, seven-rebound effort.

Payne finished with 14 points, while freshman forward Brooke Marcum (Vinton, OH) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and sophomore forward Harley Adler (Burton, OH) swatted away six shots.

Leading Cumberlands was a quartet of double-digit scorers led by Jill Herman with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Jackie Alexander netted 18 points, while Julie Haye and Brooke Forsythe rounded out the double-digit scoring with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Rio Grande returns to action next Saturday when they hit the road to take on arch-rival and conference foe Shawnee State in a pivotal MSC matchup scheduled for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

Live audio of the game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm with pregame beginning at 1:45 p.m.