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Rhode Island’s women’s basketball team wins its fifth straight; how it did it

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Rhode Island’s women’s basketball team wins its fifth straight; how it did it


SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Saturday brought a dose of Atlantic 10 women’s basketball reality to the Ryan Center. 

The University of Rhode Island is talented enough to play in spurts against certain opponents. St. Bonaventure happens to be one of them. 

This won’t be the best 40-minute sample of basketball under Tammi Reiss in Kingston. But it was plenty good enough for the Rams to maintain their momentum through the first week of 2024, as they comfortably banked a fifth straight win. 

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URI blitzed the Bonnies out of halftime and never looked back. The Rams coasted to a 65-41 victory and secured a third consecutive 3-0 start in conference play. 

“That first half, I’d like to erase it from my memory, because it was bad on both sides of the ball,” Reiss said. “But that second half was really good.” 

An ugly second quarter was followed by what has become a more typical third under Reiss in her fifth season. URI limited St. Bonaventure to a lone field goal and used a 15-0 run to blow this one open. Sophie Phillips nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to cap the burst, and the Rams had a sudden 46-31 cushion. 

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“We really focused on defense and rebounding and holding them to one shot,” Reiss said. “Let’s see if we can get stops and let it fuel our offense.” 

URI forced the Bonnies to call a timeout after just 2:21. Phillips connected from the right wing and was fouled, a four-point play that served as a spark. Dee Dee Davis and Anaelle Dutat both came up with steals that were converted into layups — Teisha Hyman the first time, Dutat herself the second — to push the lead into double figures for good with 7:21 left in the third. 

“Obviously I was really happy with our second half,” Reiss said. “Trying to get the energy going. Really focused defensively.” 

The other side of the coin came in the previous 10 minutes. The Rams were just 3-for-13 from the floor and committed eight turnovers while allowing the Bonnies to hang around. Dutat’s putback jumper beat the halftime horn and pulled URI into what felt like an unlikely 29-29 tie. 

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“This team loves offense,” Reiss said. “So when they score, it makes them defend more. We want it the other way around.” 

Phillips finished with a game-high 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting from deep — half of 10 makes for the Rams on the day. It’s the second time this season URI (11-5, 3-0 Atlantic 10) has reached double-digits from beyond the arc. Eva DeChent went 3-for-5 off the bench and Hyman chipped in a 2-for-4 effort. Mayé Touré added 12 points and five rebounds while Davis collected 10 points. 

“We were working,” Reiss said. “We were locked in.” 

Isabellah Middleton was the lone St. Bonaventure player to reach double figures, hitting for 12 points. Reigning league Player of the Week Dani Haskell was just 1-for-14 from the floor and 0-for-9 from deep as the Bonnies (4-10, 1-2) connected on just one of their 18 attempts from beyond the arc. St. Bonaventure is at the outset of a rebuild under Jim Crowley, who is in his second stint in Olean after spending the last seven seasons at Providence. 

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The Rams spend next week on the road, making trips to Loyola Chicago and Richmond. The Ramblers were picked for the bottom half of the conference, but the Spiders represent a stiff Sunday afternoon road challenge after a strong start. URI will be tested if it hopes to match a 12-0 league start in 2022-23 or a 10-0 opening to the conference schedule in 2021-22. 

“Our kids know we’ve won five in a row,” Reiss said. “They know we go on the road. They know what we need.” 

bkoch@providencejournal.com     

On X: @BillKoch25 



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Rhode Island

2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick

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2 dead, 1 seriously hurt after crash on I-95 South in Warwick


WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.

Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.

According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.

The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.

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The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.

A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.

State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information

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Judge rejects DOJ push for Rhode Island voter information


A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.

Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.

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McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.

“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”

“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”

The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.

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The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.

The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than $500K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe

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Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than 0K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe


As the two-year anniversary of his wife’s death approaches, widowed single father Scott Naso is sounding an alarm to fellow parents across the country — and especially in Rhode Island, where he lives with his now 4-year-old daughter, Laila.



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