River drops second conference game to the Sharks

The Indian River State College women's basketball team faced Miami Dade in early January on the road to open up conference play, a battle the River was not ready for at the time. Underestimating the Sharks of MDC the Pioneers dropped the opening game 81-66. Their second meeting would not fair much better as the Pioneers once again dropped now game two to MDC 94-63.

The Pioneers started off the game short-handed down their starting point guard, but that wasn't the reason the River fell to the Sharks. From the opening tip MDC was on the run and the Pioneers were in pursuit and could not keep up, instead they fouled the Sharks and sent them to the line for what turned out to be 12 of 14 makes. Combination of not be ready from the start and fouling, found the Pioneers down 13-25 in the opening quarter. Second quarter did not see much of a difference, despite IRSC not fouling, instead the Pioneers did not get into their offensive rhytmn and lacked rebounds. MDC, whose game relys heavily on transition, received the green light to start running from the River's inability to stop them and the game opened up. River fell again 12-31, despite the efforts of sophomore Edley Drawhorn and freshman Joseline Ramos's offensive efforts to end of the quarter. The River was down a deficit of 25-56 as they headed to the locker room.

Third quarter found a bit more life for the Pioneers as they began to make defensive adjustments. Miami Dade, a bit more relaxed, began to make some defensive errors and the River took advantage and found themselves competing pretty closely as the horn sounded ending the third. With a 15-19 scoring margin, the Pioneers were now alert and focused to compete despite the widening gap in score. The fourth quarter was full of defensive errors for both teams as a combined 27 free throws were shot between them. Edley Drawhorn stepped up and contributed 12 points late in the game to help the Pioneers close down the gap in the final minutes, but even IRSC's surge to compete wasn't enough. The Pioneers outscored the Sharks 23-19 in the final quarter, but the game was out of reach in the end with a score of 94-63.

"Not much to say really about this game,", a perplexed Head Coach Diana Couch said. "We did not come out ready and definitely did not adjust. I am a bit disappointed in our efforts. Our team has been working hard to grow into their roles and we have been finding success due to that, but tonight we competed as individuals against a strong Miami Dade team. You can't defend and win games as individuals plain and simple." 

Edley Drawhorn finished the game with a double-double,  26 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Joseline Ramos contributed 15. The Pioneers moved to 8-12 overall in season play and fall to second in the conference with a record of 3-2. The Pioneers will have a bye this week giving them six days to prepare for Saturday's game versus Palm Beach State on the road at 2:00pm.