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. 

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. 

“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. 

“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. 

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