Women's basketball drops fifth straight

02/18/09 - The University of Rhode Island women's basketball team dropped its fifth straight game Saturday afternoon after falling to Richmond University, 59-54. Despite the five-game skid, Rhode Island has lost by more than eight points only once in that span, and head coach Tom Garrick said he feels his squad is playing better and better with each loss.

"I feel confident that we're going in the right direction," he said. "[George Washington University] and [St. Bonaventure University] are two of the top three teams in our league. Richmond is always talented and they're in the upper half of our league, too."

The Rams (9-16, 2-8 A-10) were paced by junior guard Lindsay Harris, sophomore guard Megan Shoniker and senior guard Crystal Bellinger who all posted double-figures, scoring 14, 14 and 10 respectively. Shoniker led all players, dishing out seven helpers, and Bellinger contributed a team-high four rebounds.

"I thought we did what we could offensively," Garrick said. "I thought we were getting where we needed to get to, but they're just a bigger and more athletic team. We just needed to get a couple more defensive rebounds."

The Spiders, who were led by sophomore forward Crystal Goring, out-rebounded Rhode Island 42-21, including a 17-8 advantage on the offensive side of the glass. Goring, who entered the game averaging only six points and seven rebounds per game, finished with a career-high 24 points and 15 rebounds.

"She had a great game," Garrick said. "She's 6-foot, 3-inches, long and very athletic. She's a horse and we don't have anybody quite that size. Caitlin [Kearns] got into foul trouble, but I thought she did a commendable job on the block. It really was just one of those situations when her physicality won out."

Goring and senior guard Johanna McKnight jump-started the Spiders to an early 9-0 advantage before a three-pointer from Bellinger sparked an 11-2 run by the Rams to knot the score up at 11. Neither team was able to pull away by more than five points throughout the remainder of the first half and the Rams entered the break trailing 31-30.

Senior forward Sierra Cooper struggled offensively against a much bigger Goring, as she was held scoreless throughout the first half and finished with just four points for the game.

"[Sierra] is going to have trouble against a team like that but we got scoring from other places," Garrick said.

Richmond's sharp-shooter Brittani Shells struggled as well, as Rhode Island was able to hold the Spiders' guard to eight points, as opposed to her usual 16 points per game.

"I thought the zone was effective," Garrick said. "She's a kid that likes to put the ball to the floor and get to the basket, and I thought keeping her away from the basket as much as possible was effective."

The second half was played at the same pace as the first, with neither team able to pull away, and the game was knotted at 50 apiece with just more than seven minutes remaining. It was Richmond, however, that converted its free-throws late and pulled away for a narrow 59-54 victory. Rhode Island missed the front end of two one-and-one trips to the charity stripe late, and for the game, finished just 10-15 from the line.

The Rams look to get back on track tonight when they host St. Louis University. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

"We just couldn't get over the hump [in our last three games] against those three very good teams," Garrick said. "Now what we have to do is put forth the same type of effort in our next game and hopefully the result changes.