Women's basketball down Loyola Chicago for second-straight win
- Nathan Robillard
- Jan 26
- 3 min read
Rhode Island isn't playing pretty basketball, but it did the job on Sunday.
That’s been the story of the last week for women’s basketball, who strung together two straight wins for just the second time in the 2024-25 Atlantic 10 slate with a 67-49 win over Loyola Chicago.
The game was dictated by what Rhode Island does best: defense and rebounding. Although the Ramblers connected at just a 32 percent clip, Rhode Island shot just 37 percent, and the two teams were nearly identical from distance. The difference came at the free throw line and on the glass: Tammi Reiss’ squad made 10 more shots than the Ramblers from the line, and grabbed 12 more boards, converting 18 second-chance points.
Most importantly, a gritty, physical game once again went Rhode Island’s way. That hasn’t always been the case this season.
“It's huge in the fact that it really gives our kids confidence,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “And as a player, you really need that. Not being able to pull games out over and over at the end, it weighs on kids. As a player, it weighs on you…The confidence thing is something they've been battling all year.”
In keeping with recent Rhode Island trends, Sunday’s game got off to a painfully slow start. Both teams connected on just one field goal apiece in 13 combined attempts through the opening five minutes, splitting eight turnovers and seven fouls in that time.
It took the better part of seven minutes for the Rams to finally start scoring consistently, and they eventually took a 15-10 lead out of the first quarter.
Although both teams shot at a higher efficiency as the half wore on, things didn’t get much better for either side. Although Loyola ended up shooting marginally better than URI – connecting at a 35 percent clip to URI’s 32 percent – the Rams were able to hold onto a nine-point lead after 20 minutes, using a 6-0 run to take a 30-21 into the break.
Senior center Harsimran “Honey” Kaur led all players with just nine points in the first half, and finished the afternoon with 16 points and season-high 15 rebounds for a second-straight double-double – her team-leading eighth of the season.
Inspired out of the locker room, the Rams came alive in the third quarter, unlocking the Rambler’s defense for a game-high 6-12 from the field. The shots were finally falling, and that allowed Rhode Island to pull away, stretching their largest lead of the game up to that point to as much as 13 with a 10-0 run.
The dominant stretch continued in the fourth quarter, where Rhode Island continued to lock down the Ramblers on defense, and their lead continued to grow. Ultimately, despite similarly poor marks from the field between the two teams, Loyola fouled themselves into a 20-point hole, and the Rams never looked back from there.
Two other Rams joined Kaur in double-figures. Senior guard Sophie Phillips led all players with 17 points, and junior forward Anaelle Dutat – who slotted into a makeshift point guard role in the absence of primary guard Ines Debroise – added 11 to go with a career-high four assists.
Debroise was out with a lower leg injury and is on a “day-to-day” basis, according to Reiss. That paved the way for Dutat to shine in an unnatural position.
“[Dutat is] the one that said, ‘I want the responsibility, coach, I'll do it,’” Reiss said. “It's not been quite an easy season for [Dutat] thus far this year. Yesterday she had one of the best practices, most aggressive practices I've ever seen her have, and it carried through to today really, really well.”
The Rams will kick off a two-game road trip on Wednesdays when they visit Fordham for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off. The game will air on ESPN+ with an audio broadcast available on the Varsity Network.
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