Here's how Rhode Island College won its 4th straight Little East women's basketball title
PROVIDENCE — Two starters graduated from small schools in the state. One comes from a town of less than 4,000 people in New Hampshire. A fourth was set to begin the process of applying to law school and took two years off from playing basketball competitively.
Does that sound like the makings of a juggernaut?
The evidence was on the floor on Saturday afternoon at The Murray Center. Yes, in fact, Rhode Island College is a proper women’s basketball power in Division III.
The Anchorwomen claimed a fourth consecutive Little East Tournament title and finished an undefeated regular season. An attempted encore to their Final Four run from a season ago is in the cards next after this 67-52 victory over UMass Dartmouth.
“We were overlooked last year and wanted to prove to ourselves that we could compete at a high level,” said RIC guard Madison Medbury, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “To be back here and showing it wasn’t just a Cinderella run and that we deserved to be there, it means a lot to me and to our team.”
Championship Saturday here in Providence. Started it with @RICWBB -- now the four-time Little East Tournament winners.
Anchorwomen take down UMass-Dartmouth, 67-52, to complete a perfect regular season. pic.twitter.com/DQE3L5qbdm— Bill Koch (@BillKoch25) February 24, 2024
RIC committed 23 turnovers and allowed the Corsairs to shoot 7-for-16 from 3-point range. Carly Whiteside netted a game-high 23 points and Kaylin Zalewski added 14. No player for the Anchorwomen scored more.
And with that said, a tame effort by its own high standards still resulted in a comfortable victory. That’s become the expectation under coach Jenna Cosgrove — two straight years unbeaten at home, the last 21 wins this season by double digits. RIC will receive its NCAA Tournament assignment early next week and expects to be playing on campus as the current No. 3 team in the national polls.
“We were the road warriors last year, so we’re ready to take on whatever comes our way,” Cosgrove said. “The confidence they’ve got is different.
“Last year was the wow factor trying to win the first game. Now we have a little pressure on our backs, but we’re embracing it. We’re ready.”
Medbury was an All-State basketball and soccer player at Scituate before transferring back home from Wheaton. She’s a dynamic leader who topped the conference this season in both assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio. Izzy Booth graduated from Rogers as the school’s all-time leading scorer and netted her 1,000th career point on a free-throw midway through the third quarter of this one.
“In high school, I never won a championship,” Booth said. “Coming into college, that was always a goal — it was always a dream. Coach knew exactly how to get there.”
Angelina Nardolillo matched Booth with 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Nardolillo is the pride of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, a rural enclave tucked next to the borders of both Vermont and Massachusetts. Sophia Guerrier hit for nine points and 10 boards — the good-natured grandmother of the group walked with her Waltham (Mass.) High class in the spring of 2017. She retained a COVID-19 waiver year of eligibility after graduating from the Anchorwomen in 2021 and sensed this could be the right time to cash it in.
“People might not believe me, but I did,” Guerrier said. “I really did. Being part of the program from 2018 and seeing how we were building every year, I just knew the talent level was getting to where it is now.”
RIC is gifted enough to win most games by playing in spurts. What was a 36-26 halftime lead suddenly swelled to 19 points coming out of the locker room. Booth nailed a pair of 3-pointers and Guerrier dropped in another before UMass Dartmouth called a timeout just 1:52 into the third quarter.
“We hold ourselves to high standards,” Cosgrove said. “I think our depth helps us compete in practice every day. We’re really challenging.”
The Anchorwomen improved to 27-0 with the victory. The early stages of the season were major tests — they edged Williams by one, Babson by five and Trinity by four. All three of those games were on the road and each outing sharpened RIC for the grind ahead. Daily practices against reserves like former Barrington star Olivia Middleton and New Jersey transfer Jayda Bing have kept the rotation honest.
“We’re really deep, so it’s very competitive in practice,” Medbury said. “We’re getting better.”
The Anchorwomen owned just two conference tournament titles before this current run started in 2021. But this season would have been memorable regardless of adding another — Cosgrove is expecting a child in the coming weeks and her players have been lightly vying for their name of choice. Medbury joked that she might have the inside track, another potential assist in a year that’s featured nothing but highlights.
“It’s very rare that you get a group like this — as mature, as determined, as committed,” Cosgrove said. “They’re inspiring every day. They’re great people to be around.”
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RIC's 67-52 victory over UMass Dartmouth puts it in the NCAA tourney
