The University of Richmond women’s basketball team continued its 14 game win streak with big plays in the paint, winning 68-55 over Virginia Commonwealth University on Feb. 23 in VCU’s Siegel Center.
This victory won UR the title of regular season A-10 conference champions for the second year in a row, a feat that has never been accomplished in program history.
The cross-town rivals faced each other on the court Sunday. This time, the contest was won by 13 points, a stark contrast to the Spiders’ 75-42 victory just a month prior. On Jan. 19, the Spiders opened the game with a 8-0 run, giving them a lead they would keep throughout the entire game. They established a strong 21-7 lead early in the January game.
However, a month later, the Spiders faced troubles in the first period.
The Rams opened the contest with a layup, followed immediately by a Richmond bucket. The first period remained close, the teams swapping points between each other. The Rams posed a new threat to the Spiders: 3-pointers. The last time the two teams met, VCU didn’t even attempt a 3-pointer in the first period. This time, they attempted 11, four of which they sank.
“I thought their game plan was solid,” Head Coach Aaron Roussell said in a postgame press conference. “They made us earn this today. They made a lot of shots that first half.”
The two teams remained locked as they exchanged points for the first half of the second period. The Spiders finally found their rhythm with five minutes on the clock, with a layup by graduate guard Addie Budnik sparking a 8-0 run. Richmond maintained a 100% field goal percentage during the run.
VCU snapped the streak with a 3-pointer, bringing the score to 34-31, with the Spiders leading. The teams returned to a point exchange style of play, Richmond keeping a fragile 35-34 lead at the break.
The Rams continued to lord over the Spiders in 3-pointers, taking up 71% of the buckets in the first half. UR relied on layups, where 26 of their points came from. The Spiders are known for specializing at the arc, but they took the opportunity to score in the paint.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think we were really expecting to be up only one at half time, like… no disrespect to VCU or anything like that, but like we expecting to be up a little bit more,” junior forward Maggie Doogan said postgame. “So, just coming out after half time, you know, we kind of needed that energy.”
Doogan opened the half with a layup. She followed up with a 3-pointer just a minute later. Richmond slowly expanded their lead from three points to nine, leading 50-43 as the game progressed to the final period.
The Spiders dominated the court the rest of the contest, going on a 13-0 run in the second half of the fourth period. By the time the Rams put up a bucket, Richmond was leading by 18 points. In a last ditch effort, VCU put up the last four points of the game, but it was too late. The Spiders snagged the 68-55 triumph, snapping the Rams’ two game win streak.
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Doogan paced the Spiders with 33 points, nearly half of the team's points on the board. When she was called to the bench in the final minutes of the game, the UR side of the stands called out her name. Roussell praised her for her performance.
“Maggie Doogan was just sensational,” Roussell said. “You know, she was incredible and we've talked about before when people are taking away the arc and kind of leaving some single coverage, you know, we've got to make sure that we're punishing that and she more than did that throughout the game today.”
The Spiders are 14-1 in conference play, with two more Atlantic 10 games before the championship. Richmond will play their next game at home against Davidson College. The Wildcats are on a seven game win streak, and are sitting 12-4 in conference play. Richmond faced Davidson last month on Jan. 12, pulling out a 63-41 victory over the Wildcats.
The two will meet again in the Robins Center on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.
Contact Sports editor Abigail Finney at Abigail.finney@richmond.edu
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