John LaPierre

He/Him

Staff Writer

2/3/24

On Saturday, The Plymouth State Panthers welcomed undefeated powerhouse opponent Rhode Island College Anchorwomen to campus. The Panthers coming into this matchup were 9-10 overall and 5-6 in the Little Eastern Conference. Across the court, the Anchorwomen were 21-0 overall and 12-0 in the Little Eastern Conference.

The Anchorwomen started the quarter going up 10-2, forcing the Panthers into an early timeout. Their defense was like a brick wall while also making many three-pointers from downtown and collapsing for rebounds. As the first quarter ended, RIC was up 24-11.

In the Anchorwoman came out dominating on both ends. The Panthers needed to make adjustments to RICs fast-paced offense.

The Anchorwomen outscored the Panthers 18-4 in the quarter to lead into the half by a score of 42-15. The Panthers missed some crucial shots for points.

The Panthers in the third quarter started showing sparks of life with a couple of quick points. Bri Wilcox ended up in foul trouble with three personal fouls. RIC’s number thirteen Sophia Guerrier scored her 1000th career point at the end of the quarter on a buzzer-beater making the Anchorwomen up 61-34.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Panthers never even got a chance to come close to the Anchorwomen on the scoreboard. Even though the score of the game doesn’t define the Panthers, they had some unnoticed positive moments. The Anchorwomen won the game with a final score of 38-78.

“After last playing RIC, we knew they were gonna pressure us in the front court so coach made sure we were set on running through how to break that, and especially in the beginning of the game tonight I thought we executed well” shared Sophmore Raegan Peck, ”Foul shots have also been a huge key to our recent wins and although we work on them every day, we especially made sure to be fully focused on them because those are the little things that can lead to big things in the end.”

Coming for the Panthers, they will host Vermont State College Castleton on Wednesday, February 7 for a 5:30 pm tip-off. For the Anchorwomen, they will host Western Connecticut State also on Wednesday, February 7 for a 5:30 pm tip-off.