By Matt Jenkins
SALEM — Win No. 700 will have to wait.
Salem State women's basketball coach Tim Shea had a chance to record his 700th career win — combining both high school and collegiate games — last night at Twohig Gymnasium, but the Lady Vikings were dealt a difficult 54-52 loss by Rhode Island College in the nightcap of the Salem State Tip-Off Tournament.
Salem State erased a 12-point first-half deficit by switching to a simple 2-3 zone on defense, but the Lady Vikings couldn't cling to the seven-point advantage it had built midway through the second half.
Even so, Salem State had two chances to tie in the final seconds, but freshman Madeleine Park's 10-foot jump shot rattled out after falling halfway down, and Danielle Jenkins' driving layup at the buzzer rolled out.
"They were just more aggressive," Shea said. "They ended up with the loose balls and got far too many rebounds. They outrebounded us and we have all that size."
Salem State's strength this season appears to be its power in the post. The 5-foot-11 Jenkins returns at power forward, while 6-foot-3 twins Brianna and Whitney Wilson were added as freshman recruits to take some pressure off Jenkins.
Despite having a noticeable size advantage, Salem State was still outrebounded 60-38.
"That's ridiculous," Shea said. "They had 29 offensive rebounds. If we're going to give the ball up that many times, I don't know how we were within two points."
Salem State's zone defense was the reason the Vikings closed the gap and kept the game close.
Shea switched to the 2-3 while trailing 26-14 with 3:47 to go.
Salem State trimmed it to 29-26 at the half, and kept on coming after the break. The Vikings went on a 15-0, carryover run between the first and second halves.
"I'll chalk that up to being early in the season," Rhode Island coach Marcus Reilly said. "We started to get in a flow in our transition game, and Tim's fantastic so he knew to take it away with the zone. It took us a period of time to adjust to it. I thought with probably five or six minutes to go in the game we made our adjustment, which in March is too long but right now we'll take it."
Brianna Wilson led Salem State with 16 points and 12 rebounds in her debut, while Jenkins also reached double figures with 10.
