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And then there was one. Rhode Island is the last A10 basketball team still active. In the WNIT, the league is now 5 - 4.
Columbia (25 - 5) 78, Fordham (19- 13) 73. Abby Hsu led four Lions in double figure scoring with 20 points on 9 - 19 from the field. Anna DeWolfe ( 21 points) and Asiah Dingle (20/10 rebounds) both shot 9 - 25 from the field. Columbia will host Syracuse (20 - 12) on Friday. The Cuse beat Seton Hall.
Rhode Island (26 - 6) 74, Richmond (21 - 11) 64. Maye Toure scored 11. Sophie Phillips scored 20 points off the bench. Addie Budnick scored 20 points for the visiting Rams.
URI travels to Harvard (19 - 11) for its Super Sixteen game. Rams lost in Cambridge 88 - 74 iin the season opener. Maye Toure led the Rams with 21 points. Dolly Cairns had 12 in 29 minutes, back when she was playing more than 15 minutes per game. Sophie Philllps was scoreless, as she hadn't emerged as a scoring threat yet. Harvard was led by Harmoni Turner (of the triple - double against Towson) whohad 31 points. McKenzie Forbes scored 20 as did Lola Mullany.
Harvard 89, UMass (27 - 7) 87. Host Minutewomen rallied in the second half to take brief, small leads, but Harvard's offense was relentless. Forbes scored 24 with 6 assists. Mullany scored 22 and Turner had 15. Elena Rodriguez had a 16/6 night. Crimson shot 32 - 58 from the filed with 14 - 26 beyond the arc, and 26 assists. Only 12 fouls to 19 for UMass although at least 3 of those were in the last minute.
Sydney Taylor led UMass with 21 points. Destiny Philoxy had 16. Ber’Nyah Mayo was 15/10 assists. Sam Breen was 14/11 with 5 assists.
McKenzie Forbes is a 6' guard from California who is listed as a senior. She played a year for Cal, and after transferring, sat out the Covid year, as did all Ivy athletes. She has played 2 years for Harvard. I might be wrong but she probably has eligibility left but not in the Ivy League. She could be a tempting transfer target.
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Rhode Island, the last A10 team playing, lost to Harvard in the WNIT on Thursday night. Final score was
74 - 64 after the Rams led 55 - 52 at the start of the 4th quarter. Sophie Phillips led the Rams with 20 points off the bench. Maye Toure had 15. Anaelle Dutat pulled down 11 rebounds (only 4 points.). Madison Hattix-Covington was 8/7. Starters Emma Squires (3 points, 8 minutes) and Dolly Cairns (0 points, 0 - 1, 15 minutes) were non-factors. Lola Mullaney scored 19 for Harvard. Elena Rodrigues was 16/10. Harmoni Turner and McKenzie Forbes each scored 11.
Rhode Island finished 26 - 7, having opened and ended its season with losses at Harvard. Last year they lost in the first round of the WNIT.
Harvard is 20 - 11, and will travel to Columbia (26 - 5) in what they're calling the Great 8 in the WNIT. The Lions held off Syracuse (20 - 13) 88 - 82 last night. This was the first win of a mid-major over a Power conference team in the WNIT. Columbia hosts Harvard on Sunday. Bowling Green is the only other mid-major among the 8 remaining teams in the field.
A10 teams finished 5 - 5 in the WNIT, an improvement over the 1 - 3 performance last year. Besides URI, Fordham lost a first round game. VCU won its first game before losing to eventual finalist Seton Hall. The Ivy League is 6 -1 so far, with Penn having lost to Richmond.