Rider overcomes long layoff to advance to MAAC quarters

ATLANTIC CITY » Given that it had been over three weeks since last playing a competitive game, you could excuse the Rider women’s basketball team for needing to shake off the rust.

Amanda Mobley and her teammates did it just in the nick of time.

Mobley scored the go-ahead basket with 37.6 seconds remaining and the seventh-seeded Broncs survived to beat 10th-seeded Monmouth, 44-41, in a first round Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament game on Tuesday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall.

“It’s one of those were you would rather win ugly than lose pretty,” coach Lynn Milligan said. “I was really proud of the effort we had down the stretch . ... We had some people really step up and make big plays at the end.”

Neither team could hit the target. They combined to shoot 31-for-114 (27.1%) and turned the ball over 40 times between them.

Monmouth took 12 more shots than Rider thanks to 29 offensive rebounds. The Hawks got three of them on the final possession, but misfired twice from 3 and then didn’t get a shot up after the final offensive board.

“It’s not even not hitting anything, it’s just like when our offensive flow is not where we’re capable of,” said Mobley, who scored four of her six points in the final 1:50. “Our defense was good, but our offense wasn’t flowing and that kind of hurt us today.”

Sophomore Anna Ekerstedt, who came into play averaging 1.2 points, scored all 10 of her points in the second half to give the Broncs (7-17) a huge boost. Ekerstedt’s threepoint play with 1:01 put Rider back in front after Monmouth (2-16) had taken the lead.

“She stepped up when we needed her to,’ Mobley said. “She hit all the shots she hits in practice. It was the perfect time because that helped turn the game around.”

Mobley, who was just 2-for-9 from the floor, picked a great time to make those baskets. Her drive and layup with 37.6 seconds left broke a 40all tie.

“Making the play is not even necessarily scoring,” Mobley said. “It’s making the right pass to the person who is in their spot, in their comfort zone so they can hit that shot without even thinking about it.”

Rider advances to face second-seeded Quinnipiac on Thursday afternoon.