WEST POINT, N.Y. (November 30, 2015) -- Five players scored at least five points to send the U.S. Military Academy at West Point women's basketball team to a 57-42 win over Rider at Christl Arena Nov. 29. Cadet senior Jean Parker finished with a game-high 18 points for the Black Knights.
Army, which is receiving votes in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll, improves to 4-1 on the season, while Rider falls to 2-3.
Parker shot 7-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from deep, while adding six rebounds and a pair of steals. Sunday's contest was Parker's second straight game hitting four three-pointers after she did so at Duke on Nov. 22.
Cadet senior Kelsey Minato finished with 11 points and three assists, while Cadet sophomore Lena' Hicks contributed eight points and four rebounds off the bench. Minato raised her career point total to 1,924 and now needs 18 points to pass Katie Macfarlane's (USMA '04) Academy record of 1,941 points. Cadet senior Aimee Oertner scored five points to go along with a career-high-tying 12 rebounds and five assists, and a season-best five blocks. Cadet freshman Izzy McMahon netted five points in a reserve role for the first points of her career.
Yeliz Dogan and Robin Perkins each scored in double figures for Rider, with 11 points and 10 points, respectively, while Julia Duggan notched eight points, seven boards and three assists.
"This was a very dysfunctional game in some ways," said head coach Dave Magarity. "For us to win by 15 and only shoot around 36 percent is hard to figure out. I thought our offensive boards were really the difference in tonight's game. Jean had a terrific night. Her ability to keep the ball alive, along with Aimee and Cadet Janae McNeal, gave us a lot of second-chance opportunities. But we need to be able to do a better job at capitalizing on those opportunities.
"We certainly didn't come close to playing the way we're capable of playing, but I'm pleased with the way we found a way to win this game."
Parker knocked in both of her first two three-pointers to give the Black Knights an early 6-2 lead 1:53 into the contest before a short jumper by Minato extended the lead to 8-2 by the 6:56 mark of the opening period.
Duggan scored four straight points during a 9-5 run that brought the Broncs back to within two, 13-11, with 2:10 remaining in the first quarter before Army made 3-of-4 free-throws and outscored Rider, 5-4, over the final 1:51 of the frame to control an 18-15 advantage at the end of one period.
The visitors closed the gap and eventually pulled even, following an old-fashioned three-point play by Perkins and a fast-break lay-up by Manon Pellet. Oertner went 1-of-2 at the foul line to put Army back up by a point before Perkins sank a jumper at the second period's 5:54 mark to put Rider back on top, 22-21.
The Black Knights' post players made three straight lay-ups to give the hosts the lead and make the score 27-22 with 4:11 to play in the opening half, with Oertner hitting two of the lay-ins and Hicks accounting for one.
Rider received consecutive lay-ups from Dogan to trim its deficit to one, but a three-pointer from McMahon and a lay-in from Minato built Army's lead to six, 32-26, by halftime.
The Broncs made it a four-point game with a lay-in 57 seconds into the third quarter before Parker buried her third and fourth three-pointers of the game at the 8:38 and 7:52 marks, respectively, to begin a 12-3 run that lasted 9:34 and left Army with a 44-31 advantage with 9:05 remaining in the fourth period. The Black Knights kept their possessions alive and ended Rider possessions with seven offensive rebounds and four steals during the scoring stretch.
A lay-up by Dogan ended the 12-3 run 46 seconds in the fourth quarter and made the score 44-33 before the Black Knights outscored the Broncs, 12-7, over the next 8:10 to extend the lead to 14, 56-42. Cadet senior Brigette Ocran made one of two free-throws with 15 ticks on the clock to give Army the 15-point win.
The Black Knights return to the road on Dec. 3, when they travel to New Haven, Conn., to face Yale at 7 p.m.
Related Links:
Army West Point Athletics website
U.S. Army Garrison West Point website
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