RSC Women's Basketball Weekly Report: Week 10 -- Feb. 10, 2017 #RSC #RSCWBB
RSC Women's Basketball Weekly Report: Week 10 -- Feb. 10, 2017 #RSC #RSCWBB
FLORENCE, Ky. -- The River States Conference Women's Basketball Weekly Report for Week 10 brings information on games from earlier this week and sets the stage for a big day on Saturday. This weekly feature appears at RiverStatesConference.com.
SHAPING UP
Games earlier this week had things continue to take shape towards the postseason, and in the case of the RSC West Division, the playoff qualifiers identified themselves with results on the weekeday contests. IU Kokomo and Midway have both picked up wins so far this week, as have Asbury and IU Southeast, and those four teams are all now guaranteed of the playoffs out of that division.
In the RSC East Division, IU East and Ohio Christian continued their winning ways to stay in first and second place, respectively, with the Red Wolves clinching the divisional title with Tuesday's victory. WVU Tech and Rio Grande were dealt setbacks, and Point Park pulled a road win to keep those teams very close in the playoff race.
TUESDAY'S HEADLINES
No. 20 IU East 106, Rio Grande 96 -- The No. 20 Red Wolves clinched the RSC East Division title with a barn-burner at Rio Grande. Tia King scored 36 for IU East, which scored 31 in the fourth quarter to win by 10. Sharday Baines and Jaida Carter each had 20 for Rio Grande.
Ohio Christian 72, WVU Tech 60 -- OCU took control in the middle two quarters to turn a 20-16 deficit after one quarter into a 63-39 lead after three. The Trailblazers had balanced scoring with Shawntell Parsons and Deshay Thomas scoring 14 each, as did Laura Requena for WVUT.
Point Park 92, Carlow 66 -- The Pioneers forced 41 turnovers and got 25 steals in the key road win. Point Park had a game-high 17 from Ja'Nia McPhatter and held leads of 13-0 early and 46-20 at the half. Emma Stille totaled 12 points and 15 boards for Carlow.
Asbury 97, Brescia 78 -- The Eagles solidified a playoff spot with a road win by 19 at Brescia. A 56-36 halftime led to Kali Whiteside finishing with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Meghan Miller added 20. Shelbi Samsil put in 20 points and made 5 of 9 treys for Brescia.
IU Southeast 78, Alice Lloyd 59 -- The Grenadiers made an 18-8 run the second quarter on their way to a 10-point lead at the half and never looked back as they locked up a postseason spot. Madi Woods and Jocelyn Mousty scored 14 apiece. Sara Robinson and Miranda Wilson scored 15 and 14, respectively for Alice Lloyd.
IU Kokomo 81, Cincinnati Christian 66 -- Deja Felder scored 29 points to power the Cougars to a home win and keep them in first place in the RSC West. IUK took control with a 23-13 run before the half and shot 54 percent for the game. Brittany Wells led CCU with 14.
THURSDAY'S NEWS
Midway 72, Cincinnati Christian 59 -- Midway ended the game on a 22-11 run the fourth quarter to turn a close game into a 13-point win. Courtney Pfister scored 23 points, and Breanna Ball added 18 for the Eagles. CCU had Brittany Wells (11) and Baylee Wallace (11) lead in scoring.
NAIA DII TOP 25 POLL
This week's NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Top 25 Poll had IU East move up one spot to No. 20 in the nation. There had not been much room to break into the top 20 for the Red Wolves, who had been stationed at No. 21 for a few polls in a row. IU East has won four in a row and is 13-1 since Christmas.
New to the "receiving votes" section is IU Kokomo, which checked in at No. 32 overall. The Cougars are on the verge of 20 wins with an 18-9 record. The RSC has had a team mentioned in the votes the few polls with Midway and Ohio Christian also taking those honors in recent rankings. The next poll will come out Feb. 21.
THE WEEKEND AHEAD
Saturday's matchups are top heavy with the top four teams in each division all playing each other. The highlight is the RSC Game of the Week pitting Midway at IU Kokomo, the top two teams in the RSC West Division. Also in that division are the teams tied for third place squaring off with Asbury at IU Southeast. Also in action is Alice Lloyd at Brescia and Cincinnati Christian at Carlow.
The RSC East Division has first-place IU East hosting WVU Tech, which is tied for third with Rio Grande. Second-place Ohio Christian hosts Rio Grande. Point Park has its bye week, and although it is in fifth place and on the outside of the playoff picture, it is just a half game out of the tied for third.
STRETCH INTERNET
Stretch Internet will carry broadcasts of four of the six games on Saturday's schedule. Log on to the RSC Game Central presented by Stretch Internet for broadcast listings at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/RSC. Stretch Internet is the official video-streaming provider of the RSC, the NAIA and NAIANetwork.com.