Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Rider used a strong second half to come-from-behind to defeat Saint Peter's 64-55 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Women's Basketball Tournament First Round action on Thursday.
Aziza May (South Euclid, Ohio/Charles F. Bush) paced the Peacocks (3-24) with a season-high 21 points while Kaydine Bent (Bronx, N.Y./Harry S. Truman), an All-MAAC third-team selection, posted seven points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
"I'm proud our players," said first-year head coach Pat Coyle. "All year long with the coaching change I thought they did a great job and bought in to what we were trying to do. Where this team started and where we finished are two different teams and I give these kids credit for coming in and working hard everyday."
MyNeshia McKenzie paced the Broncs (14-16) with 25 points and 11 rebounds, including 19 points in the second half. Shereen Lightbourne added 15 points off the bench in the winning effort.
With Saint Peter's trying to win its first MAAC Tournament game since defeating Rider 57-47 in the 2010-11 tournament, the team teams battled back and forth until the Broncs pulled away late in the contest. The squad was also trying to help the lower seeds go 3-for-3 in upset bids after the previous two games on the day saw the lower seed coming out victorious.
After May gave the Peacocks the lead for the final time on a 3-pointer at 43-40 with 14:10 left, Rider went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. McKenzie scored the first six points in the spurt with a layup at 13:47 and another to give the squad the lead for good at 12:03 before nailing two free throws at 11:421 for a three-point lead. Lashay Banks and Marritta Gillcrease capped the run with layups at 11:13 and 10:37 for a 50-43 advantage.
Saint Peter's scored the next four points to trim it to a 50-47 margin with 6:57 on the clock after baskets in the paint by Bent and Bridget Whitfield (San Diego, Calif./La Costa Canyon) at 8:16 and 6:57, respectively. McKenzie answered with the next four points and the Peacocks could get no closer the rest of the way.
Rider opened the game with a 16-6 run in the first eight minutes and 23 seconds. Lightbourne paced the Broncs with seven points in this stretch.
With Rider holding an 18-9 lead with 10:45 left in the first half, Saint Peter's went on a 15-5 run to grab a 24-23 edge with 4:12 left in the stanza.
Whitfield started the spurt with a layup at 9:42 before Bent converted a traditional 3-point play at 9:07 to make it a four-point game. After Manon Pellet made two free throws at 8:40, Hala Mostafa (Cairo, Egypt/Modern Namer Language) answered with two charity tosses of her own at 8:18.
Banks hit 1 of 2 at the line at 7:26 before May scored four of the next six points with a Broncs' Julia Duggan layup sandwiched in between to trim the margin to 23-20 with 5:45 remaining in the half. May then scored in the lane again before Antonia Smith gave the Peacocks a one-point edge on a jumper with 4:12 left.
The two teams battled back and forth for the final four minutes and it looked like Rider would go into the locker room with a 30-28 lead after a Banks layup with 97 seconds left. Saint Peter's had the ball with 27 seconds left and the ball went out of bounds in the waning seconds of the half. Saint Peter's inbounded the ball to May, who hit a bank-shot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Peacocks a 31-30 lead at the break.
Saint Peter's extended its lead to four points twice in the first three minutes and 35 seconds of the second half. Whitfield hit a 3-ball at 19:06 for a 36-32 lead and Teresa Corchado (Willingboro, N.J./Camden Catholic) made 1 of 2 at the line with 16:25 left for a 40-36 lead.
Duggan and Banks then answered to tie the game at 40 and after May hit a trey with 14:10 left, McKenzie put the Broncs on her back en route to the victory.
Whitfield finished the game with eight points.
The game was the final collegiate contest for Bent, May and Khadijah Young (Copley, Ohio/Shaker Heights), who did not play in the contest.
