The Roberts Wesleyan College Lady Raiders saw their three game AMC winning streak come to an end Saturday evening at NAIA #15 Cedarville. In a game played before a sellout crowd at the Callan Athletic Center, both teams saw big leads disappear. The game came down to the final possession, with the Yellowjackets prevailing by a score of 64 – 62. Cedarville improves to 19 – 6 (9 – 2 AMC) while Roberts falls to 14 – 9 (7 – 4 AMC). Aubrey Siemon's steal with one second remaining secured the victory as the Raiders failed to get the final shot up.
Baskets by
Sarah Child (JR, Albany, NY) and
Lindsay Kendall (SO, Rochester, NY) got the Lady Raiders off to a 4 – 0. They built the lead to 21 – 8 at the nine minute mark of the first half. Cedarville responded over the next four minutes with an 8 – 0 run capped by a three pointer from Rachel Hurley (14 points). Over that run, Roberts shot 0 – 7 from the field and committed 5 turnovers. The two teams traded baskets over the next three minutes, before the Yellowjackets went on a 9 – 0 run to close the half on a three pointer from Kara Cayton (9 points). Cedarville led 34-27 at the break.
A three pointer from Raider forward
Bianca Jones (JR, Long Island City, NY) got Roberts to within 6 (40 – 34), the Yellowjackets went on 9 – 2 run to expand the lead to 13 points with 12 minutes remaining. The Lady Raiders responded with a 23 – 8 run to regain the lead on back to back baskets from junior forward
Brittany Williams (Rochester, NY) with five minutes remaining. Williams had 11 points in the run and senior forward
Brittany McMillon (Lyons, NY) contributed 10 points. Cedarville responded with six consecutive points before a three pointer from Williams closed the Raiders to 61 – 60 with under two minutes to go. Two free throws from Cedarville's Aubrey Siemon(6 points) and a basket McMillon made the score 63 – 62 with 27 seconds remaining. Cedarville freshman Kayla Jenerette made one of two free throws, and following a Raider turnover, Kara Cayton missed the front end of a one and one. Trailing 64 – 62, the Raiders long pass to McMillon with 2.7 seconds left was stolen by Siemon, who dribbled out the clock.
Roberts was led by McMillon with 18 points and 13 rebounds, as the Lady Raiders outrebounded Cedarville 48 – 41. Williams finished with 14 points and Kendall joined them in double figures with 10. Child added 9 points and 7 rebounds and Jones finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Jenerette finished with 16 points and senior Rachel Hurley added 14 points for the Yellowjackets. Siemon finished with a game high 17 rebounds. Cedarville, which is first in the nation in three point percentage and free throw percentage held true to form, nailing 9 three's and going 15 – 19 from the charity strip.
“This was a great game to a part of,” said Raider coach
Bob Segave. “The atmosphere was exciting and we were playing a very good team with a strong tradition of excellence. I thought we handled the atmosphere very well early and got off to a great start. We struggled a bit as Cedarville cranked up the energy. We could have folded several times, but we kept battling back. Williams and McMillon were tremendous on the offensive end, and our defensive energy from our entire team kept the game close. We just ran out of time. This was a tough game to see anyone lose, as both teams really gave tremendous effort.”
The Lady Raiders return home for two key American Mideast Conference games this week. Roberts will host the Point Park Pioneers on Tuesday evening, February 8, 2011, at the VAC. Tip Off is set for 6PM. The regular season home schedule concludes with a Senior Day contest against NAIA # 11 Walsh University on Saturday February 12, 2011. Tip Off is at 2:00PM.
