After falling behind in the opening five minutes, URI women’s basketball never had what it took to muster a come-from-behind win on the road on Monday, falling 77-64 to Duquesne.
The nationally-televised loss brought Rhody back down to .500 in the Atlantic 10, and marked the third loss in their last four games. Stability has been hard to come by for the Rams this season, and despite a 2-0 start to conference play that seemed like it had the Rams trending upwards earlier this month, Tammi Reiss’ side has continued to struggle into the new year.
From the onset, Duqeusne took control of the game and never looked back. After senior center Harsimran “Honey” Kaur put the Rams in front 8-7 four minutes into the game, an 8-0 Dukes run erased what was the visitors’ only lead of the game as the Rams entered the second quarter down 23-14. Kaur’s early bucket was her only make of the game, as she snapped a streak of six double-figure games with a season low two points on 1-6 shooting.
Kaur’s slow afternoon matched the theme of the game for the Rams as their early offensive struggles continued in the back end of the first half. URI managed just seven points and went 3-20 from the field in the second quarter, converting on just 15 percent of their attempts. Meanwhile, the Dukes shot a respectable 53 percent from the field, and knocked down five of their eight attempts from distance to take a 45-21 lead into the break.
The first half slip continued a concerning trend for Rhode Island. Monday’s 24-point halftime deficit was the largest all season for the Rams, breaking a previous 13-point mark set at halftime of their loss vs. Davidson three games ago. In both games, the Rams dug a hole too deep to climb out of after just 20 minutes.
Although the second half showed promise for Rhode Island – who narrowly outscored the Dukes across 20 minutes and held a 23-11 advantage in the fourth quarter – the hosts did enough to take advantage of Rhody’s slow start and see out the win on Monday.
Three players stood out in the loss for Rhode Island. Junior guard Ines Debrouse (19 points), sophomore guard Sophia Vital (16 points) and junior forward Anaelle Dutat (13 points) all tallied career-high totals despite the result. However, the rest of the team went just 6-29 from the field, and 16 Rhode Island turnovers allowed the Dukes to score 21 points.
Rhode Island will look to right the ship when it returns home on Wednesday to take on the UMass Minutewomen at the Ryan Center. A clash between the regular season co-champions from just two seasons ago will have a much different look this time around, as the two squads sit neck-and-neck in the middle of the pack in the A-10 in search of momentum.
Tip-off for Wednesday's game is set for 6:35 on ESPN+, with a radio stream available on The Varsity Network.
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