The University of Richmond women’s basketball team snapped Saint Joseph’s University’s eight game win streak with a 59-51 victory in the Robins Center on Feb. 13.
The win was crucial for the Spiders as the season starts to wind down. Saint Joseph’s came into the game with a 20-4 overall record, while Richmond was 20-5. The Spiders have now beaten the Hawks in each of the past two seasons, though both victories were by narrow margins.
“I think we’ve had this date circled on our calendar for a while,” graduate student forward Addie Budnik said after the game. “We were really looking forward to it. They’re a great team.”
Richmond came out strong in the first period, taking the first two baskets of the game. Saint Joseph’s responded with a three-pointer, starting a back-and-forth battle. The Spiders attempted to expand the lead, but the Hawks wouldn’t budge. Saint Joseph’s led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Richmond struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 14.3% on 3-pointers in the first period, well below the team’s average.
“Defensively, they’re very well disciplined,” Budnik said. “They took away some of our tendencies.”
The Spiders briefly took the lead early in the second quarter, but Saint Joseph’s quickly responded, going up 17-13. Richmond’s graduate guard Faith Alston sparked an 11-0 run with four minutes remaining in the half, and the Spiders led 26-20 when the buzzer sounded.
The Hawks weren’t finished, though. They made a run in the third quarter, cutting Richmond’s lead to 34-32 with six minutes remaining. Neither team was able to capitalize on the other’s mistakes, and the Spiders held a fragile three-point lead going into the fourth.
Junior guard Rachel Ullstrom opened the final period with a 3-pointer, and the Spiders extended their lead to as much as 56-44 midway through the quarter. Sophomore guard Ally Sweeney hit another clutch 3-pointer in the final moments, helping seal the win.
Saint Joseph’s scored a layup with three seconds left, but the game ended with the Spiders on top, 59-51.
The win extends Richmond’s current win streak to 11 games, the longest for the program since the 1989-90 season. The Spiders remain atop the A-10 standings with a 12-1 record.
“I thought it was a very well-played game by both teams,” Richmond head coach Aaron Roussell said. “I think we’ve been playing a lot of pretty basketball.”
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Despite being a high-scoring team, Richmond faced one of its lowest offensive outputs of the season. Budnik led the way with 12 points, followed by junior forward Maggie Doogan and Sweeney, who each had 11.
The Spiders will play Saint Joseph’s again in their final regular season game before the A-10 Championship. They will face another tough conference opponent, Saint Louis University, on Sunday afternoon.
“We can feel good about this one, but we’ve got work to do,” Roussell said. “I feel like Saint Louis has been a bothersome group for us. They play in some different ways that will test our discipline and challenge us.”
The Spiders will host the Billikens at 2 p.m. on Feb. 16 in the Robins Center.
Contact sports editor Abigail Finney at abigail.finney@richmond.edu.
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