Duquesne University proved to be a thorn in the University of Richmond women’s basketball team’s side earlier this season when the Dukes snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Spiders back on Jan. 24.
However, in their second regular season matchup back on Feb. 28, and today, the Spiders came out on top, this time defeating Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 semifinals 80-66 to advance to the championship with a chance at securing an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
“Just the want, the desire,” UR Head Coach Aaron Roussell said in a postgame press conference. “I know everybody has that this time of year, but these guys have something special and it was really cool to watch.”
It was a fast-paced, scrappy start, as the Spiders had strong looks from the field to begin play, but nothing seemed to be falling for the first couple minutes, other than a 3-pointer from senior forward Addie Budnik which got UR on the scoreboard.
By the first media break, the Dukes were ahead 12-8, but just over a minute of gameplay later, UR retook the lead with another Budnik 3-pointer and a steal and score from senior guard Grace Townsend on the subsequent possession to make things 13-12. Townsend was a bright spot for the Spiders offensively, finishing with 19 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.
“I think I said this last year at the press conference, but [Townsend] has jets like no other,” sophomore forward Maggie Doogan said in a postgame press conference. “It’s really fun to play with, but it’s really insane to watch. I mean, her IQ is through the roof. She knows where people should be, where the ball should be and she also can take it to the basket whenever she wants.”
With 44 seconds to go in the first quarter, Budnik hit another 3-pointer to cap off an 8-0 Spiders’ run heading into the second quarter.
“We knew last time we played [Duquesne], the [3-pointer] was open a ton, especially off ball screens, so we knew that was a point of emphasis today, see how they were playing us,” Budnik said in a postgame press conference. “And that worked to our advantage.”
Budnik was another force for the Spiders throughout the contest, as she finished with 22 points to lead UR in the scoring column. Besides Townsend’s 19 points, other Spiders in double figures were Doogan, senior guard Siobhan Ryan and sophomore guard Rachel Ullstrom, who all had 13 points apiece in the game.
The Spiders remained on top in the second quarter and just when the Dukes began to close the gap on the scoreboard, again Budnik hit a 3-pointer and Townsend had an and-one play on subsequent possessions to make the score 33-25. Heading into halftime, UR led the Dukes 37-27.
In the second half, the Spiders continued to sustain their lead over the Dukes.
With 2:32 to go in the third quarter, Budnik scored another 3-pointer to put UR ahead 53-38. Budnik finished the game with 6 3-pointers, shooting 6-for-9 from the arc.
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Several times in the fourth quarter, UR’s lead swelled to as many as 18 points.
And by the time the last seconds rolled off the clock, the Spiders were ahead by 14 points and had solidified their spot in the final tournament game to compete for the program’s first ever A-10 Championship.
“Told them, ‘you’re allowed to enjoy this, man,’” Roussell said. “‘Enjoy the heck out of this right now. Think about how incredible tomorrow would be.’ But once that game tips, we’re locked in and focused on everything that we can do to make that game our success tomorrow.”
UR will play the sixth-seeded University of Rhode Island Rams in the A-10 Tournament championship at 4 p.m. on Mar. 10.
Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.
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