Women's basketball topples Saint Francis in Education Day clash

Photo courtesy of gorhody.com

In terms of snatching the coveted worm, the Rhode Island women’s basketball team was the early bird, snapping a five-game skid against Saint Francis on Friday morning 77-37.

With an 11 a.m. tip-off, the annual Education Day granted Free Admission to elementary school students and all attendees, as 5,992 kids from 38 different Rhode Island schools flocked to Kingston to spectate the matinee matchup.

“To be able to play in front of that much energy, as a player, it’s special,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said.

With a rambunctious home crowd on the Rams’ side, a blitz of Red Flash turnovers step-laddered Rhody towards victory. Saint Francis’ 28 giveaways marked the most forced by Rhode Island all season, and luckily for the visitors, the hosts only produced 24 points off of the toss-aways.

“[Saint Francis was] turnover prone to begin with, so it is something as a game plan that we said ‘listen we are going to heat them up a little bit,’” Reiss said. “We were very successful, I think we had 15 [takeaways] at halftime and then in the third quarter by the start of the fourth we called the dogs off.”

Despite “calling the dogs off,” Reiss’ Rams still forced the Red Flash to cough the ball up six times in the final quarter, putting the nail in the coffin for the day. The Rhody offense also complimented the defense well en route to the 40 point triumph.

With their best offensive performance since Nov. 20, and the runner-up tally on the season overall, Rhode Island’s offensive spark was headlined by the return to previous form for senior guard Sophie Phillips.

Phillips connected on five three-pointers, posting 17 points in the contest. Although it was not the seven distant shots that Phillips made last year on Education Day in a 97-53 win over Le Moyne, the sharpshooter seems to be back to her old self after struggling from the arch to start the year.

“She finally, the past couple of weeks, even in practice, is shooting 40%,” Reiss said. “Sophie has had a really good two weeks of shooting the ball and now she is starting to get it back.”

Phillips has shot over 50% from the perimeter with at least five attempts twice in her last three games after not doing it at all the rest of the season. Sitting just three distance makes away from the all-time program record for career three-pointers, if she continues on this path her very next game could see her taking the throne.

The other star for the Rams in the morning battle was fourth-year center Harsimran Kaur. The veteran big led the Rams with 21 points and 11 rebounds, posting her third double-double of the season and the fourth of her career.

Kaur, Phillips and the rest of the Rams now enter the holiday break before returning to the Ryan Center on Dec. 29, when Rhody hosts Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 conference play opener. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. and the game can be streamed on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts available on RIU2.org and the Varsity Network.