Spring Break
URI women's basketball falls to Terriers, rebounds with Siena College victory
Matt Swiss
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: Sports
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After losing to Boston University on its home floor, 50-45, URI bounced back on the road with a 66-60 victory against Siena College.
After winning the opening tip, Rhody senior guard Crystal Bellinger gave her squad a 2-0 lead that it would not hold onto for long. Boston University went on a 15-4 run that was highlighted by two three-pointers by senior guard Kristi Dini.
After a jump shot at the free-throw line by senior guard Christine Kinneary stretched BU's lead to 15-6, URI was able to stop the defeat, cutting the deficit to 15-8 just before the second time out of the game was called.
The third and final time out of the first half was called with 3:03 left, and BU controlled a 25-19 lead. The Terriers then went on a 5-0 run to close the half with a 30-19 advantage.
After BU came up short on its first field-goal attempt of the second half, URI was whistled for a traveling violation and gave the ball back. Boston University's senior forward Jesyka Burks-Wiley capitalized on Rhody's turnover and gave her team a 13-point lead at 32-19 when she made a lay-up just under a minute into the half.
Rhode Island then went on 9-2 run to cut the lead to 34-28, which BU answered with a 4-0 run to stretch the lead back to 10, 38-28.
Rhody stormed back with a 15-0 run where it grabbed its first lead since leading 4-3 in the first half. Crystal Bellinger capped off the run when she stole the ball away from a BU guard at half court and took it hard to the hoop, finishing with an easy lay-up. Bellinger finished the game with 15 points, nine of which came in the second half.
"Crystal did a good job for us in the second half," head coach Tom Garrick said. "One thing to take away is that we fought back. We were down 11 at half but we didn't give in and we fought back. We just fell a little short."
