Rio women kick into gear, bounce Golden Bears

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - A shaky start by the University of Rio Grande offered a glimmer of hope early on for the Golden Bears of West Virginia University-Tech.
     The final three quarters, though, produced a dose of reality.
     The No. 8-ranked RedStorm survived an impressive opening 11 minutes by their guests before cruising the rest of the way to a 107-70 victory, Wednesday afternoon, in River States Conference women's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande rebounded from a loss at rival Shawnee State University on Saturday, improving to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the RSC. It was also the program's 999th all-time career win.
     WVU-Tech suffered a ninth straight loss and dropped to 1-12 overall and 0-3 against conference foes.
     The Golden Bears enjoyed a four-point lead on six different occasions in a fast-and-furious first quarter - the last of which came at 21-17 with the 4:50 left in the period - but Rio used an 11-0 spurt to take a lead it would never relinquish.
     Still, Tech found itself down just two, 34-32, after a bucket by Cadence Stewart with 9:16 left before halftime and very much thinking about an upset.
     But the momentum promptly swung in favor of the home team from that point on and the Bears never got any closer.
     Rio Grande finished the half on a 26-10 run for an 18-point cushion at the intermission and the advantage only grew from there.
     A pair of free throws by freshman Josie Graves (Barboursville, WV) with 1:08 left in the third stanza produced a 34-point advantage, 86-52, and the largest lead of the game came with the final margin of victory.
     Rio Grande, which saw all 15 players in uniform see action and 12 of the 15 score at least one point, shot a blistering 62.9 percent in the opening half (22-for-35) and finished the game 40-for-75 (53.3%).
     The RedStorm also shot 75 percent from the free throw line (24-for-32), finished with a commanding 47-25 edge in rebounding and turned Tech's 25 turnovers into 28 points of their own.
     Freshman Jasmine Jordan (Ashland, KY) finished with a game-high and career-best 31 points - as well as a game-high 15 rebounds and two blocked shots - in the winning effort.
     Senior Lexi Woods (Waverly, OH) and freshman Payton Johnson (Peebles, OH) tallied 14 and 11 points, respectively, while senior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH) added a game-high seven assists and four steals for the RedStorm.
     WVU-Tech, which hit 11 of its 17 first quarter field goal attempts (64.7%), finished the game at 26-for-62 (41.9%) from the field.
     Liz Cadle scored 22 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals to pace the Golden Bears, while Stacey Begay added 10 points of her own.
     Brooklyn Davis also had four rebounds and Emmanuella Amaefula handed out four assists for Tech.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Saturday when Alice Lloyd College visits for another RSC contest.
     Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.