Women's basketball exceeds pre-season expectations

Despite losing 68-55 to the University of Virginia Cavaliers in the second round of the postseason WNIT tournament, Richmond's women's basketball team exceeded expectations this season. The team went 23-9, falling three games short of the school's 26-game win record.

Rachael Bilney, a senior who will play another year because she missed a season for an injury, said the theme for this season had been to surpass expectations. In a preseason coaches' poll, Richmond was predicted to finish eighth in the Atlantic-10 Conference. The team finished fourth.

"A lot of people predicted us to finish eighth," associate head coach Ginny Doyle said, "and that's because they looked at last year's team compared to this year's team.

"In a lot of people's eyes, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year," Doyle said. "Eighth was probably realistic."

Last season, three starting players graduated, including Brittani Shells, who scored more than 2,000 points during her career at Richmond. Bilney said Shells would go down in history as one of Richmond's best women basketball players.

The coaches realized this year might not go as predicted during the non-conference games, when the team members were playing well and had noticeably strong chemistry, Doyle said.

She said this year's players had some of the best chemistry she had ever coached.

"The players just continued to get better from there," she said. "As the season went on, there was no telling where this team might end up."

One of the key aspects of the team's unexpected success this season was the younger players' ability to step up and be leaders, Doyle said.

Three underclassmen were recognized by the A-10 with all-conference honors. Freshman Liz Brown, who started 28 of 32 games, was named the A-10 All Rookie Team. Sophomore Genevieve Okoro was named a Third Team All-Conference selection and led the team in rebounds, with 7.3 per game. Sophomore Becca Wann earned A-10 Most Improved Player of the Year. Wann started 14 games after moving to a starting role in mid-season because of other players' injuries.

In addition to the three underclassmen, the only graduating senior on the team, Abby Oliver, also earned A-10 honors and was named First Team All-Conference. Oliver led the Spiders in scoring, averaging 16.4 points per game.

"It will be a big loss, losing Abby," Doyle said. "Not only with her play and her scoring, but she brought a lot of leadership. When one of your better players leads by example, you've got someone pretty special."

Oliver said she had been most proud of overcoming low expectations this season.

"A lot of people thought we were too young to beat the big-time teams," Oliver said, "but we did that."

The team beat Miami (OH) University, 76-54, in the WNIT opener March 15, but fell to UVA in the second round.

"The Virginia game was a game that you feel okay losing," Bilney said. "If you're going to lose, you want to lose the way we did against Virginia. Everyone absolutely played their heart out."

Oliver said the game had been emotional for her.

"The last seconds of the game, it kind of hit me that it was almost over," Oliver said. "I started tearing up, and I didn't want it to end; it was hard to grasp that it would be my last time playing with my team."

Despite losing Oliver as a leading scorer, Doyle and Bilney said that the outlook for next year was strong because the team would be kept mostly intact.

Two recruited players have committed to the team for next year, Doyle said. Bria Powell and Lauren Tolson, both guards, will join the Spiders for the 2012-2013 season.

"It was a really neat year," Doyle said. "It was special to watch and definitely a lot of fun to be around."

Contact reporter Molly Gentzel at molly.gentzel@richmond.edu