Playing at William Smith College on Jan. 25, the Bard women had a nine-minute scoreless stretch in the first half to put them in a hole they never climbed back out, for a 64-49 loss.
The Herons (11-6 overall, 5-3 Liberty League) pushed an 11-point halftime lead to 20 early in the second half, but Bard battled back. When Liz Freud (Dover, Del.) completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 5:02 left in the game, the Raptors had cut the 20-point lead to nine.
The Raptors turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, however, and William Smith went on a 10-0 run to put the game away.
It was a close game early — 10-10 with 11 minutes left in the first half — and in spite of the fact that Bard’s super freshman Riley took a seat with two fouls before four minutes was gone in the game. She ended up playing only nine minutes in the first half, when William Smith built its lead.
The Herons made four of their first five shots in the second half, and the lead ballooned to 20 with just 3:28 into the second half. Behind Riley and freshman Bianka Bell (Stamford, Conn.), the Raptors responded. Bell scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half, including 4-for-6 from beyond the three-point line.
Riley finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. She entered the game as the top rebounder in all of NCAA Div. III with 15.7 per game.
The Herons got 19 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore Chloe Hayter (Lititz, Penn.).
In their final match, on Jan. 26, a 13-0 run over the final 3:49 of the first half broke open a close game and led the Rochester Institute of Technology team to a 75-50 win.
Midway through the first half, Bard was down 20-6, but the Raptors rallied and cut the lead to six with 5:29 to go before halftime. RIT scored 17 of the next 19 points before halftime, led 40-19 at the break, and rolled to an easy victory.
Twelve different players scored for RIT (5-11 overall, 2-6 Liberty League), led by senior Leslie Havens (Wayland, N.Y.), who had 11 points. The Tigers forced 24 Bard turnovers and had 19 more field goal attempts.
Bard (now 7-12, 1-9 Liberty League) got 19 points, 17 rebounds and three steals from Riley. Bell added 11 points, and senior Imani Jones (Brooklyn, N.Y.) chipped in with seven points and seven rebounds.
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