Women's Basketball
Rhody Taken Down by American, 77-58
Dec. 7, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Junior Janae Miller (Alameda, Calif.) scored a team-high 13 points and senior Sierra Cooper (Blairs, Va.) added 12 as the Rhode Island women's basketball suffered a 77-58 setback, Sunday afternoon at American University. Cooper also recorded a team-best seven rebounds.
American (6-3) finished the game with ten three-pointers, sinking eight of 12 first-half attempts from long range. Overall, the Eagles shot 57.4-percent (31-54) from the field while recording 11 steals and forcing 24 Rhode Island turnovers.
The Rams (3-5) jumped out to an early 12-7 lead over the first four minutes before American responded with a 22-6 run to go up 29-18 with 7:38 remaining in the half. Rhody got back to within seven (33-26) on a layup by freshman Lara Gaspar (Spa, Belgium) with just under five minutes to go, but American outscored Rhode Island, 15-2, down the stretch to take a 48-28 lead into the break.
Rhody came out strong in the second frame and continued to chip away at the AU lead, cutting the advantage to 12 (52-40) while holding the Eagles to just a pair of layups over the first eight minutes. However a 13-4 push gave American a 65-44 lead with 6:17 to go and the Eagles never looked back, going up by as many as 25 (75-50) with 1:43 left in the game.
Sophomore Megan Shoniker (Rochester, N.Y.) - who fouled out with just under six minutes remaining in the game - led the squad with four assists and two steals in 17 minutes of action.
As a team, URI was 43.1-percent (22-51) from the field while out-rebounding American by a 30-25 margin.
The Rams are back in action on Tuesday night when they host Holy Cross at 5 p.m. The game is the first end of a Rhody doubleheader as the men's team will take on New Hampshire at 7 p.m.
