Rio women clobber Carlow, clinch regular season crown

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Despite entering Saturday's regular season finale against Carlow University with only one conference loss and a No. 13 ranking nationally, the University of Rio Grande still needed a Senior Day win to cement a league title and a trip to next month's NAIA Women's Basketball national tournament.
     And when the scoreboard clock reflected all zeroes as the final buzzer sounded, head coach David Smalley's squad had its necessary victory.
     And then some.
     The RedStorm scored 35 points or more in two of the game's four quarters and overwhelmed the visiting Celtics to the tune of a 128-58 final in River States Conference play at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande moved to 25-3 overall and 16-1 in league play with a seventh consecutive victory - six of which have resulted in more than 100 points scored.
     The win also gave the RedStorm the top seed in next week's RSC Tournament and the league's automatic bid to the nationals as its regular season champion.
     Rio will host the winner of Monday night's first round matchup between Ohio Christian University and Indiana University East in Wednesday night's quarterfinal round. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
     Carlow, which was playing its final women's basketball game as a member of the NAIA and the RSC before making a move to NCAA Division III next year, dropped to 5-21 overall and 1-16 in league play with a sixth consecutive setback.
     The 128 points scored by the RedStorm narrowly missed equaling the single-game school record of 131 points set just two weeks ago in a win over Ohio Christian.
     The 70-point margin of victory equaled the same spread set in a 112-42 thumping of Miami University-Hamilton on Nov. 5, 2018, while also making a run at the school record of 80 points, which was set in a 114-34 rout of Ohio University-Chillicothe two days earlier.
     Rio Grande led just 19-18 after a layup by Carlow's Sydney Carr with 3:58 left in the opening quarter, but the RedStorm closed the period on a 16-4 run to open up a 13-point cushion and extended their lead to 28 points, 61-33, at the intermission.
     The advantage reached 40 points, 90-50, heading into the final stanza before the RedStorm outscored the Celtics, 38-8, over the final 10 minutes.
     Rio Grande shot a blistering 63.5 percent for the game (54-for-85), including a season-high-tying nine three-point goals.
     Senior Courtney Pifher (New Washington, OH), one of a trio of players honored in pre-game festivities, hit five of the trifectas and scored a career-high 18 points. She eclipsed her previous career-best mark of nine points in the first quarter, hitting three of her shots from distance and going 1-for-2 at the foul line.
     All 14 players in uniform for the RedStorm scored, with two of their usual suspects leading the way.
     Senior Ella Skeens (Chillicothe, OH) finished with a game-high 32 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists, while sophomore Kaylee Darnell (Wheelersburg, OH) tallied 21 points to go along with a pair of steals and five assists of her own.
     Rio Grande finished with 43 assists as a team, narrowly missing the single-game school record of 45 set in the win over Ohio Christian two weeks ago.
     Junior Aleea Crites (Parkersburg, WV) added a team-high nine rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots to the winning effort, while sophomore Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) handed out a game-high nine assists.
     Carlow shot just 29 percent overall (19-for-65) and 11.8 percent from three-point range (2-for-17), while also committing 26 tunrovers which led directly to 40 points for Rio Grande.
     The Celtics were also outrebounded, 49-29.
     Carr led Carlow with 15 points, while Megan Ost - who was also honored prior to the game as her team's lone senior - finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots before fouling out with just under seven minutes remaining.
     Emiley Hillgartner added three assists in a losing cause for the Celtics, who lost for the 28th time in 30 all-time meetings with Rio.