Rider fumbles upset bid against Niagara at MAAC Tournament
ATLANTIC CITY >> The Rider women’s basketball had two chances to put itself in an unlikely Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals.
Two times the Broncs fumbled the ball away and had their stay here in Atlantic City end in a heartbreaking, 67-64, loss to Niagara on Wednesday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall.
When you look at the stats, it was amazing 10thseeded Rider (10-21) was even in this game. The second-seeded
Purple Eagles (18-11) forced 28 turnovers, grabbed 29 offensive rebounds and took 33 more shots than the Broncs.
Yet it was Rider with the ball twice in the final 15.5 seconds with a chance to tie or take the lead only to turn it over each time. On the first trip, Amanda Mobley, who at times was a one woman press break, lost control of the ball under pressure and on the second one with 12.1 seconds let a disjointed possession ended with Makayla Firebaugh missing a runner as she was called for an offensive foul.
Firebaugh scored 11 of her game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter to help the Broncs rally from an eightpoint deficit to within one possession. Rider cut the deficit to to 63-62 on a pair of Victoria Toomey free throws with 1:08 left, but Niagara’s offensive rebounding — or the Broncs’ lack of defensive rebounding — showed up one last time when Sydney Faulcon scored on a putback with 46.7 seconds left.
A terrific out-of-bounds play drawn up by coach Lynn Milligan got Toomey a layup with 44 seconds left and after Angel Parker split a pair of free throws, the Broncs had the ball with an opportunity to steal the game.
Toomey finished with 13 points and Mobley had seven points and 11 assists.
Aaliyah Parker led the Purple Eagles with 18 points and Angel Parker added 17.
Niagara leads the nation in forced turnovers at 28.6 per game, and had forced Rider into 57 total turnovers during the
two regular-season meetings. While the Purple Eagles got 25 points off turnovers, they had 19 second-chance points and 44 points in the paint thanks largely to the work on the offensive glass.