Rio Grande Women Fall In First Round of NAIA Tourney

By RANDY PAYTON

Sports Information Director

MARION, Ind. - It all came down to the numbers.

And regardless of which set of numbers you gave the most credence to, one thing was painfully clear - both spoke volumes.

Northwestern (Iowa) College rallied from six points down in the second quarter and a one-point halftime deficit, building an eight-point third quarter advantage and then holding on down the stretch for a 79-76 win over the University of Rio Grande in the First Round of the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship, Friday afternoon, at Indiana Wesleyan University's Luckey Arena.

The Red Raiders, seeded No. 9 in the tourney's Cramer Quadrant, improved to 19-11 with the victory and advanced to Saturday's Second Round for a meeting with top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan, which bounced No. 16 seed Fisk (Tenn.), 100-69, in Friday's other First Round matchup in the four-team pod.

Rio Grande, which was ranked No. 21 and seeded No. 8 in the Cramer portion of the 64-team bracket, closed its season at 26-6.

The RedStorm were whistled for 28 fouls in the contest, had two players foul out and had three others finish with four fouls.

The barrage of whistles from the three-man Crossroads League officiating crew resulted in 38 free throw attempts - 25 of which were successful - for the Red Raiders.

On the other hand, Northwestern was whistled for just 13 fouls on the afternoon and, coincidentially, Rio Grande went just 6-for-10 at the foul line.

Still, despite the overwhelming discrepancy at the charity stripe, the RedStorm found themselves down just 70-68 following a layup by sophomore Marlee Grinstead (Albany, OH) with 5:14 remaining in the contest.

But head coach David Smalley's squad, which entered the game as the nation's highest-scoring team at 95.0 points per game, then proceeded to go scoreless for nearly five minutes and failed to seize an opportunity to either forge a tie or regain the lead.

Following Grinstead's bucket, Rio Grande missed its next nine field goal attempts before junior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) scored on a layup with 29.2 seconds left.

During that same period, the Red Raiders managed just four points of their own, going 0-for-4 from the floor, 4-for-4 at the foul line and committing four turnovers.

Northwestern, which twice enjoyed its largest lead of eight points late in the third quarter, nearly reached the same level again after Molly Schany went 1-for-2 at the foul line with 23.7 seconds left and 2-for-2 at the stripe with 16.0 seconds left to extend the cushion to 77-70.

The closest the RedStorm got the rest of the way was the three-point final margin, which came when Williams drained a three-pointer as time expired.

Schany led the Red Raiders with a career-high 34 points to go along with a game-best 17 rebounds and two blocked shots. She had eight more free throw chances by herself (18) than Rio Grande had collectively (10).

Schany and teammate Emily TerWee, who narrowly missed a double-double of her own with nine points and 15 rebounds, had as many rebounds together as Rio Grande had as a team, leading to a commanding 50-32 edge on the glass.

Hali Anderson added 12 points, six assists and three steals for the Red Raiders, while Lexie Van Kekerix also had 12 points.

Northwestern shot just 39.7 percent overall (25-for-63), was 4-for-23 from distance (17.4%) and committed 26 turnovers.

Junior Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) had 27 points to pace Rio Grande, despite playing most of the game with what is feared to be a broken hand. She also tied for the team lead in rebounds with five.

Senior Reagan Willingham (Ashville, OH) tallied 15 points to go along with five rebounds of her own and four steals.

Willingham's trio of three-point goals gave her 102 trifectas for the season, marking just the second 100-three-point goal season in program history. Jenna Smith owns the school single-season mark with 110 in 2010-11.

Junior Lexi Woods (Wacerly, OH) also had five rebounds, while junior Marina Garcia Perez (Leon, Spain) had a team-best four assists and Grinstead also had four steals.

The RedStorm shot 40 percent overall (32-for-80) and was 6-for-17 from three-point range (35.3%) in a game which featured five ties and a dozen lead changes.

Friday's game also marked the final contest in a Rio uniform for Willingham, Aleea Crites (Parkersburg, WV), Natalie Kalaydjiev (Vienna, Austria), Lavender Ward (Charleston, WV) and Jocelyn Abraham (Exchange, WV).