Nashua, NH- The Raiders improve their record to 14-7 (5-3 GNAC)
on the season as they took care of the Saint Joseph (CT) Blue Jays
(3-16, 0-8) by a final score of 97-59 this afternoon. The
Raiders played devastating D as they dominated the boards by out
rebounding the Blue Jays 56-25 and forced 20 turnovers in the
game. The Raiders were also aggressive on offense as they
went to the foul line 40 times and made 32 of those attempts.
The Raider's offense really picked up in the second half as they
shot 55% from the floor and went 5-7 from behind the arc.
Rivier started the half off slow as they missed their first 6
shots of the game until Steph Adams
(Nashua, NH) was able to break the seal with a layup
to take the early 2-0 lead and start a 6-0 run. Allison
Richards (Meriden, CT) stopped the Raiders 6 point run with a tough
basket inside for the Blue Jays first points of the game.
After a couple of free throws by Jess Mellen (Rockland,
MA) and Adams, the Raiders extended their early lead to 6
with about 15 minutes to go in the half. The Raiders found
the stroke from 3 point land as Amandra Purcell (Hudson,
NH) hit the Raiders first three of the game to go up 15-6,
followed by Lauren Brett (Otisfield, ME) hitting
her first 3 of the game to put the Raiders up by 12 points with 12
minutes to go in the half. The Blue Jays responded and cut
the lead back to 4 points after an 8 point run with Nathalie
Masterreno (Glastonbury, CT) dropping in the Jays first 3 of the
game. With just under 6 minutes to go, Stacey Laine
(Hudson, NH) tracked down an offensive rebound after a
missed free throw and hit Purcell for a 3 pointer to extend the
Raider lead to 29-20. After the teams traded baskets, Purcell
hit her 3rd 3 pointer of the half bring the score to
37-25 with 3 minutes to go. Elizabeth Dean (Saugus,
ME) made her first shot of the half to give the Raiders
their largest lead of the half, 41-27. Masterreno ended the
half for the Blue Jays with a foul line jumper and at the end of
the half, the Raiders held a 43-32 lead.
The Raiders came out of halftime on fire , going on a 14-1
scoring run in the first 5 minutes of the game, extending their
lead to 25. Masterreno and Terese Cerins (Manchester, CT)
converted a couple of short jumpers for the Blue Jays to briefly
stop the Raiders run, however, Brett and Purcell responded by
hitting back to back 3's to make the score 70-39. After a
couple of free throws by both teams, Adams made a strong move on
the post to put the Raiders up by 33 with just over 7 minutes left
in the game. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie Brooks
(Colebrook, NH) completed a tough 3 point play for the
Raiders to put the home team up, 91-56. Monica White
(Augusta, ME) and Brooks hit 4 free throws within the
final two minutes of the game to push the final score to 97-59.
White led all scorers in the game as she dropped 23 points on
the afternoon and collected 9 rebounds in the game. Purcell
had a nice game at the point position as she dished out 7 assists,
scored 14 points, and played a team high 32 minutes for the
Raiders. Adams had herself a game as she recorded her first
double-double on the season by scoring 13 points and grabbing 11
rebounds.
For the Blue Jays, Ilaria Schiano (Wallingford, CT) led the way
by going 5-9 from the free throw line and dropped a total of 21
points in the game. Cerins scored 19 points and had 9
rebounds before she fouled out of the game and Masterreno shot 40%
from the floor for 10 points and dished out a team high 4 assists
for the Jays.
Raiders next game will take place when the team travels to
Norwich University next Tuesday February 9, 2010 where the Raiders
will be taking on the Cadets at 5:30 PM.
