URI women's basketball schedule presents strong challenges

Bill Koch, The Providence Journal
·2 min read

A regional rival and a conference tournament nemesis will be the home-and-home Atlantic 10 foes for the University of Rhode Island women in 2022-23.

The Rams will face Massachusetts and Saint Joseph’s twice as part of their 16-game league schedule, which was released in part on Thursday. Specific dates and times will be shared leading up to opening night in November.

The Minutewomen captured the conference tournament crown last season to clinch a March Madness berth. The Hawks dumped the Rams out of the event in a quarterfinal upset, sending URI to a first WNIT bid in program history. The Rams will play six single games both home and away against the remaining 12 teams in the league.

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Defending regular-season champion Dayton, UMass and La Salle all come to the Ryan Center this season. That’s three of the top five teams in last year’s standings — URI closed 22-7 overall and 12-2 in the conference, with its lone defeats coming against the Flyers. George Washington, Duquesne, Richmond and conference newcomer Loyola Chicago are also due for visits to Kingston.

The Rams travel to both VCU and Fordham, a pair of teams who closed in the top half of the standings last season. URI didn’t play the Richmond-based version of the Rams last season — two league games were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. URI also visits St. Bonaventure, Davidson, George Mason and Saint Louis for single games.

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After a successful year as head coach of the URI women's basketball team, Tammi Reiss was rewarded with a 10-year contract extension.
After a successful year as head coach of the URI women's basketball team, Tammi Reiss was rewarded with a 10-year contract extension.

Last season represented a long-awaited breakthrough for the Rams, who ripped off a 13-game winning streak and extended their program record to 17 straight home victories. URI went 12-2 at home, its best record since posting a 12-3 mark in 1982-83. The Rams rewarded coach Tammi Reiss with a 10-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season.

Dayton, UMass, VCU and Fordham were all top-100 foes last season, according to the NET rankings. URI closed 2-2 against Quadrant 1 competition but was dragged down by four Quadrant 3 defeats — Long Beach State, Quinnipiac and Holy Cross were all damaging nonconference losses.

The Rams reloaded through four transfers — Sayawni Lassiter (Rutgers), Madison Hattix-Covington (VCU), Emma Squires (Richmond) and Tenin Magassa (Dayton) — and two first-year players in center Anete Adler and guard Chantelle Blagrove.

bkoch@providencejournal.com    

On Twitter: @BillKoch25 

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: URI women's basketball 2022-23 schedule, top teams Ryan Center