www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/college/2023/12/07/providence-womens-basketball-beats-rhode-island-on-wednesday-night/71834935007/PROVIDENCE — The teams traded leads and neither was able to gain momentum to create any separation to take control. There were big shots, bigger stops and nothing was decided until the final shot rimmed out.
While women’s basketball has flourished in neighboring Connecticut and managed to become a big deal in other pockets of the country, there’s a better-than-average chance your average PC season-ticket holder at the AMP Saturday could name the person who poured their beer but not the coach of the Friars’ women’s team.
Some of it is indifference, but the answer to why PC and URI women’s teams have struggled to gain any sort of traction when it comes to gaining the attention of basketball fans in the state isn’t hard to see. With neither having made the NCAA Tournament since before the internet was commonplace, it makes growing an audience much more difficult.
And both URI coach Tammi Reiss and new Providence coach Erin Batth are very much aware that if they want to grow their rivalry game so it gets within shouting distance of the men’s game, there’s one simple thing they need to do.
“Both of our programs need to be great programs. No one wants to see two bottom-level teams play in women’s basketball. They don’t,” Reiss said. “You have to get your program up to the top of the conference and exciting so your fan bases really come out and support the level of the men’s team. That’s on us to start winning.”
“Winning is what it is. When you win, you get people to come out and get more people interested in it,” Batth said. “We have to do what we have to do.”
Wednesday Providence had to figure out a way to win without two of its best players in senior Grace Efosa and junior Kylee Sheppard. With both guards out, the Friars were forced to activate graduate assistant Laryn Edwards, who played four seasons at Loyola, to the active roster and had her in the starting lineup vs. the Rams.
They did it by playing Batth’s brand of basketball which is defense, defense and a lot more defense. While URI is trying to bring back the idea of the Runnin’ Rams, the Friars’ tenacious defensive effort slammed the brakes on those plans from the opening tap.
“Defense all day. That’s always the goal of what we’re doing here at Providence College,” Batth said. “We want to D up for sure. We have to put the ball in the hole, but defense is everything. That was the goal and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Providence’s defensive effort allowed the offense to do enough to hang around before Emily Archibald’s 3-pointer put the Friars up 51-50 with 2:03 left to play.
From there, the defense did the rest. URI’s next trip up the court ended with two missed free throws by Maya Toure and after a PC miss with 1:37 left, the Rams next possession saw them get three offensive rebounds and take four shots.
It ended with no points.
URI managed to commit four quick fouls to send Archibald to the line with 9.2 seconds left. She missed both, giving the Rams one final chance to win the game. Teisha Hyman came off a screen and got open at the top of the key, went right and stopped at the elbow, pulling up for a jumper that missed its mark.
“We really tried to get the ball in Teisha’s hands with a pick-and-roll and get her to her midrange game for the last shot,” Reiss said. “She drove it all the way in. Everyone was helping but she had a really good look. It didn’t fall, but we got the shot we wanted.”
“How exciting was that?” Batth said. “I couldn’t be more excited for our girls to hang tight, get those defensive stops and to be disciplined to get the ball in. I couldn’t be more proud. It’s just awesome.”
Reiss was less-than-enthused with her team’s play. She was quick to credit Providence for its execution and ability to control the game, but after what Reiss saw in practice Tuesday she had a feeling that a performance like Wednesday’s was coming.
“My question is do you want to win and that’s what I said to the team [after the game] and then I walked out because there’s nothing left to say,” Reiss said. “I’ve said all I can say. Do you want to win and do you want to compete. If not, this will be a very up-and-down, very long season and I’m going to give some other kids some opportunities if we can’t get some people on board.”
Wednesday’s win was a monumental one for Providence and not just because it was over Rhode Island. Batth is trying to give the Friars a new identity and Wednesday showed her lessons are starting to take. Doing it without two of your best players only makes it more impressive and gives PC some momentum as it readies to play the final four games – starting Saturday at Yale – in its non-league schedule.
“The losses we’ve had this season, I believe they were us,” Batth said. “We beat ourselves so we have to learn from everything we do. I’ve said it before — a loss is a loss if you don’t learn. We’ve learned a lot of lessons so we have to win to get those butts in those seats.”
Winning will certainly help PC create excitement around its program, but URI winning will help as well. The same can be said for the Rams, who can continue to grow at an exponential rate if the Friars can come along for the ride.
If it happens, games like Wednesday’s might start to resonate not just with the schools’ women’s basketball fans, but with the schools’ basketball fans in general.
“In athletics, when you have that kind of rivalry, that’s want you want and we have to win,” Batth said. “I know what we have to do with the women’s team. I know what we have to do and we have to win.”
