Rider women awarded MAAC championship
The Rider women’s basketball team has officially been named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion and will receive the championship trophy, the league announced on Tuesday.
The declaration of the Rider women and the Siena men comes after the conference tournament in Atlantic City was canceled halfway through due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
League bylaws state that in the event the championships cannot be completed, the highest remaining seeds shall be named the NCAA automatic qualifier. The MAAC Committee on Athletic Administration decided that the two schools should also be awarded the championship title and trophies.
“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t let these teams try to finish what they set out for ... but the accomplishments that both programs achieved during the regular season should not be dismissed,” commissioner Rich Ensor said in a statement.
The Broncs went 26-4 overall and 18-2 in the league to earn the regularseason title for the first time in program history. Rider and Marist technically were co-regular-season champs, but the Broncs clinched the No. 1 seed when they scored on a buzzer beater at Monmouth in the final game of the regular season because they had the tiebreaker.
Rider’s 26 victories stand as the program’s all-time high as a Division I member. It also won 26 games during the 1981-82 season at the Division II level.
Senior Stella Johnson led the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game and was named MAAC Player of the Year for the second straight season. In the final game of her career, Steals scored a MAAC Tournament record 37 points to lead the Broncs to a quarterfinal victory over Niagara.
Stella became the first player in program history to reach 2,000 career points and her 2,167 points ranks fifth all-time in MAAC women’s basketball history.
Senior Amari Johnson, who scored the winning layup in the regular-season finale, was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and Lynn Milligan was Coach of the Year for the second time.
Had the NCAA Tournament not been canceled, Rider would have made its debut appearance.
“We’re happy for our kids, especially our seniors,” Milligan said. “The commitment they made nine months ago to each other for this vision and this goal of being a MAAC champion. The way that they battled for each other and the resilience of this team all year long showed.”
The Siena men completed their season at 20-10 overall and 15-5 in the league to win the outright regular-season title. It was the sixth in program history, moving the Saints into sole possession of second place in the MAAC only behind Iona’s 12.
The Rider men finished third at 1812 overall and 12-8 in the league. They never got on the floor in the Atlantic City since the tournament was canceled before their scheduled quarterfinal game.