RedStorm women play host to No. 6 Tigers

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The University of Rio Grande women’s basketball team returns to action on Thursday evening when they host No. 6 Georgetown College in a Mid-South Conference matchup at Newt Oliver Arena.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

In their last outing on Saturday afternoon, a lack of ball security and poor shooting throughout the game doomed the RedStorm in a 75-67 loss at Bluefield (Va.) College.

The loss was a season-high third straight setback for Rio (14-7 overall, 3-6 MSC) and the fifth in their last seven contests.

Rio Grande shot just 37 percent from the field as a team, missed all 10 of their attempts from beyond the arc, and converted on just 27 of their 39 free throw attempts.

Despite the poor shooting and 21 turnovers, the RedStorm found themselves still in the ballgame late, trailing just 62-61 with 3:34 remaining. However, they got no closer thanks to a 6-0 Bluefield run which put the game away.

Leading the way for Rio Grande was junior guard Brianna Thomas’ (Maplewood, NJ) 21-point, four-steal and four-assist effort, while freshman forward Brooke Marcum (Vinton, OH) was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Freshman forward Alexis Payne (Deep Water, WV) rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points of her own.

Thomas leads the RedStorm with 19.9 points and 5.3 assists per contest, while Marcum is pulling down a team-leading 8.8 boards per game.

Georgetown (14-3, 8-1) is coming off of an 80-60 win at Lindsey Wilson on Sunday afternoon. The hot-shooting Tigers connected on 53 percent of their shots from the field overall and 46 percent of their attempts from three-point range.

Georgetown, which is coached by former Rio Grande player and assistant coach Andrea (Jones) McCloskey, were led in Sunday’s win by Andrea Howard’s 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Lizza Jonas had 17 points and Kourtney Tyra recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 assists.

Howard leads the Tigers with 17.4 points per game, while Jonas and Tyra average 6.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game, respectively.

Georgetown won the earlier meeting between the two schools, 101-78, on January 4.

Live video and play-by-play of the game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm with pregame beginning at 5:45 p.m.