Rams roll by Maine in 2nd half Rhode Island uses 20-4 scoring surge

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ORONO – When the University of Rhode Island made a run at UMaine during the second half of Wednesday night’s game, Black Bears coach Ann McInerney waited for her team to respond.

UMaine couldn’t come up with any answers.

Rhode Island took advantage of its quickness, depth and inside muscle during an impressive second half that carried the Rams to a 65-48 women’s basketball victory at Alfond Arena.

Behind its full-court pressure, aggressive offensive play and tenacious rebounding, Rhode Island (2-3) rattled off a 20-4 scoring surge early in the second half that seemed to drain the life out of the Bears.

“I thought [URI] came out in the second half [and] they were aggressive,” McInerney said. “I thought we got caught back on our heels.”

Despite some inspired play off the bench by freshman guard Ameshia Bryant (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 blocked shot), UMaine (2-2) couldn’t get closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

“[Bryant’s play] was a good boost for us, but I don’t know that everybody reacted to it,” McInerney said. “I thought we seemed very flat at times and almost afraid to lose instead of just battling to win the game.”

The Rams, out of the Atlantic 10, outrebounded the Bears 48-34, coming up with 22 offensive boards. URI’s assortment of presses and traps also helped force 27 UMaine turnovers.

“Rebounding doesn’t take a lot of talent, it takes a lot of heart,” said senior center Abby Schrader, who paced UMaine with 13 points and 13 rebounds, posting her third straight double-double. “They definitely outhustled us tonight.”

UMaine suffered its second straight setback heading into a stretch of five straight nonleague road games.

Ashley Underwood of Benton managed six points and Katie Whittier of New Gloucester added four points and six rebounds. Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor struggled to a four-point effort on 1-for-8 shooting.

Safi Mojidi led Rhode Island with 19 points and three steals while Tanya Rhodes contributed 16 points, six rebounds and five steals. The Rams have only three upperclassmen.

The game was tied 25-25 at halftime, but URI took it to the Bears after the break.

Mojidi scored five straight points to give the Rams the lead for good at 32-27, before the visitors embarked on a pivotal 15-4 flurry. Mojidi, who opened the extended surge with an offensive rebound basket and a 3-pointer, later capped it with a 3-pointer and a pump shot from close range in transition.

UMaine shot 3-for-13 during the opening 81/2 minutes of the second half and committed seven turnovers during that span. URI either cashed in with transition baskets or scrapped for offensive rebounds that gave it second and third chances to score.

The Bears spent so much effort trying to negotiate the URI pressure that they were unable to execute consistently on the offensive end.

“They pressed us, but it’s inexcusable,” said sophomore point guard Margaret Elderton. “We didn’t handle it well. We didn’t get into our offense. We got frazzled and didn’t take care of the ball.”

URI outquicked UMaine players to the ball and outmuscled the Bears underneath. Before they knew it, the Bears found themselves on the wrong end of a 47-31 score with only 11:31 to play.

Bryant gave the hosts a bit of a lift with back-to-back buckets that trimmed the deficit to 12 points at 47-35, but URI’s Tanya Rhodes scored six of the game’s next eight points to push the lead back to 53-37 with 8:15 left.

Bryant’s hustle helped the Bears hang around as her steal and layup ended a 5-0 run that got UMaine within 11, but the Rams’ ability to get offensive rebounds and second-chance points kept them in command.

“The thing I think I feel most disappointed about tonight’s game is it was a gut check and I don’t think we responded,” McInerney said.

RAMS 65, BLACK BEARS 48

Rhode Island (2-3) Maine (2-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Marcus 3 9 1 2 9 Underwood 2 6

Mojidi 8 16 1 2 19 Whittier 2 4

Magley 4 9 0 0 8 Elderton 1 2

Rhodes 6 17 4 5 16 Barker 1 8 4

Hollis 3 8 0 0 6 Schrader 6 11 1 3 13

Licina 1 3 2 4 4 Younan 2 4 4

Mitsis 0 0 0 0 0 Hugstd-Vaa 2 4

Boisvert 1 4 0 0 2 Boser 0 0 0

McGrew 0 1 0 0 0 Bryant 4 5 11

Moses 0 0 0 0 0 Bowen 0 3 0

Cooper 0 1 0 0 0 Kilmurray 0 0

Chambers 0 0 0 0 0

Cournoyer 0 2 1 2 1

Totals 26 70 9 15 65 20 49 11 48

Rhode Island 25 65

Maine 25 48

3-pt. goals – Rhode Island (4-13): Marcus 2-3, Mojidi 2-7, Boisvert 0-3; Maine (2-9): 2-5, Barker 0-2, Younan 0-1, Bowen 0-1

Attendance: 1,437