Seawolves Sink 5 Three’s in Fourth to Stop CCRI 65-73

01.10.22

Warwick, R.I. – January 10, 2021: The No. 10 ranked (NJCAA DIII Women’s Basketball Poll 1/3/22) CCRI Lady Knights basketball team hosted the very formidable Seawolves of Southern Maine Community College form Portland, ME on Saturday at the Cullen Fieldhouse. The Lady Knights had only seven players and two of their normal starters available in this game but fought hard and were defeated by SMCC 73-65. With the loss CCRI falls to 10-2 on the season.

The Lady Knights knew they were going to have a very challenging contest versus the Seawolves who came into the game with an impressive 8-2 record. Making matter more difficult for CCRI was the fact that they only had seven players available and only two of them were starters. That being said, the Lady Knights played with intensity and passion throughout the game but the Seawolves stellar shooting proved to be too good as they were able to outlast CCRI.

The Lady Knights had two starters available: Co-Captain Michelle Moreno (Providence, RI) and Maggie Schwab (Narragansett, RI) but had their second co-captain Talia Thibodeau (Cranston, RI) and their lone sophomore Jazlynn DiZoglio (Providence, RI) slide into the starting line-up. With the new starting rotation, it took a few minutes of game play for the Lady Knights to get going unfortunately for CCRI the Seawolves’ Ashleigh Mathisen came out of the gates firing as she made three 3-pointers in the first quarter to pace SMCC while Samantha Pickering added another long range bomb which helped Southern Maine jump out to a 19- 13 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Knights were able to stay in the game in the first as Maggie Schwab led them with six points and Andrea Gabriel (North Kingstown, RI) added five first quarter points.

In the second quarter the Lady Knights were able to slow down the 3-point barrage by SMCC while getting things going offensively themselves. CCRI held the Seawolves to just 14 points in the second quarter led by Kyla Greenleaf who tallied five points for SMCC. The Lady Knights were able to score 18 in the quarter led by Maggie Schwab with eight points while Jazlynn DiZoglio and co-captain Talia Thibodeau added four points apiece. CCRI went into the halftime break trailing 33-31.

In the third quarter, once again, CCRI held the Southern Maine snipers at bay which allowed for them to keep the game close but Tara Flanders did her best to become an inside threat for SMCC with six points in the frame. The Lady Knights countered with co-captain Michelle Moreno who scored eight points in the quarter. The game was very going back and forth and with three seconds left in the third quarter with the score 45-46 SMCC Moreno inbounded the ball off a Seawolf player’s back and retrieved it to make a spinning lay-up and give CCRI the 47-46 lead going into the final quarter.

In the first half of the fourth quarter both teams traded baskets with neither getting a discernible advantage. With five minutes left Kyla Greenleaf sank a 3-pointer, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Hannah Richards. SMCC had built a seven point lead in under a minute. The Lady Knights were fighting back as hard as possible with Maggie Schwab who scored 11 points in the quarter. But Samantha Pickering drained back -to-back 3-pointers from the corner which extended the Seawolves lead to 10 points with under a minute remaining. SMCC made their free throws to secure the hard fought 73-65 road victory. The Lady Knights played very hard and gave it their all but unfortunately SMCC shot the lights out the fourth quarter to score 27 points the most CCRI has given up in a single quarter this season and it wasn’t poor defense but excellent shooting by the Seawolves.

The Lady Knights were led by Maggie Schwab who charted her third Double-Double of the year scoring a career and game-high 25 points with a career and game-high 16 rebounds with three blocked shots, two steals and an assist. Co-captain Michelle Moreno also put forth a spectacular stat line with her first career Triple-Double consisting of 14 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists while adding five steals to complete her line. Co-captain Talia Thibodeau had eight points with five steals, five rebounds and two assists. Sophomore guard Jazlynn DiZoglio added eight points with five steals, five assist, and five rebounds. Andrea Gabriel contributed seven points including a 3-pointer and two rebounds while Victoria Galarza (Cumberland, RI) also sank a 3-pointer.

The next game for the Lady Knights were supposed to play the Moose of the University of Maine at Augusta Tuesday at 6:00pm but that game has been postponed, make-up date still TBD, most likely in February. The next game for the Lady Knights will be Thursday the 13^th when they travel to Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA for a Region XXI showdown at 5pm.

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The Community College of Rhode Island, New England’s largest comprehensive community college, enrolls nearly 10,000 students in credit courses and thousands more in non-credit and job training classes. Its athletic program boasts 12 varsity programs and an academic support program for all student-athletes.