Broncs fall to Quinnipiac despite Schiffer’s 22 points
LAWRENCEVILLE » When Jessika Schiffer knocked down her sixth 3-pointer of the game to give the Rider women’s basketball 13 straight points and a six-point lead, it looked like it might just have Quinnipiac’s number once again.
But Tricia Fabbri’s Bobcats are the favorite in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for a reason and they rallied for a 64-60 victory on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.
Quinnipiac (6-4, 1-0) outscored the Broncs (2-8, 0-1), 9-5, in the final minute of play. Mikala Morris scored a pair of baskets, including the crucial go-ahead layup after an offensive rebound with 18 seconds left.
“Of course it’s frustrating because we worked today,” Schiffer said. “It would have been nice to have the win, but we can learn from that, move on and get better.”
Schiffer gave Rider a chance to win with her best game of the season. The German point guard, who transferred in from Buffalo and has been the starter since Amanda Mobley went down with an injury in the third game of the season, scored 22 points, made six of her 12 3-point tries and dished out seven assists.
When Schiffer swished a trey from the left wing with 4:42 remaining, it gave Rider a six-point lead as it scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we expect from her,” coach Lynn Milligan said. “That’s why she chose to come here. She’s not afraid of the spotlight, she’s been in big moments before, she’s in the gym more than anybody. It certainly wasn’t a surprise to any of us that she was making her shots because she does it every single day.”
Milligan and Fabbri go back to their days as South Jersey hoopers at Eastern and Delran, respectively, and Rider has had the upper hand in the series of late. The Broncs had won four of the last five meetings, including a victory in the MAAC quarterfinals
last season, before the Bobcats prevailed on Saturday.
“Her program is what we all strive to be like, hang as many banners as they hung and win as many games as she’s won,” Milligan said. “… We’ve been fortunate to have some great games with Quinnipiac and we’ve come down to the wire in quite a few of them. I just think it’s two good teams battling it out.”
Quinnipiac out-rebounded Rider, 45-31, and turned 21 offensive boards into 21 second-chance points. Add that with 13 points off 14 Broncs turnovers and that was the biggest difference in the game.
“Let’s call it was it is. It absolutely was the difference in the game,” Milligan said. “It’s been something we’ve been struggling with all season, finishing plays. I thought we did a good job changing our defenses up, making them think a little bit, making them run their half-court stuff.
We forced them into some shots they didn’t want to take, but we didn’t finish the play and it cost us in the end.”
Lenaejha Evans finished with 13 points and Makayla Firebaugh had 10 for Rider. Evans missed the first of two free throws after she was fouled driving to the basket with 11.8 seconds left, leaving the Broncs down a point. After Rose Caverly sank two free throws, Firebaugh missed a contested 3-pointer that would have tied it.
Mackenzie DeWees and Cur’Tiera Haywood had 13 points each to lead Quinnipiac, while Morris had 12 and 11 rebounds.
Rider is back in action on Monday at Siena.
It’s a game it knows it can win if it plays with the effort it did on Saturday.
“This game is more motivation to us than anything else,” Schiffer said.