Spiders struggle in shooting, lose to Charlotte 62-55

The University of Richmond women's basketball team lost Tuesday afternoon at the Robins Center 62-55 to the Charlotte 49ers, falling to third place in the Atlantic 10 conference.

The Spiders (16-5) shot poorly throughout the game, but nevertheless managed to stay in contention, even after Charlotte (14-6) pulled ahead several times. But after two quick shots during the final two minutes gave Charlotte a six-point advantage, the Spiders were faced with an insurmountable lead.

Crystal Goring and Nikita Thomas opened the game with back-to-back scoring, but the four-point lead rapidly turned to a deficit. By 12:22 into the first half, the Spiders were down by 10.

A lay-up by Abby Oliver later trimmed Charlotte's lead to eight points, and by halftime the Spiders had pulled to within six. The score was 29-23.

Notably missing from the first half was a major contribution from the Spider's leading scorer Brittani Shells, who shot 1-for-9 from the field and finished the half with just four points. Shells came into Tuesday afternoon's game averaging 16 points per game.

"She wasn't taking bad shots," coach Michael Shafer said. "They just weren't going in."

Throughout the game, Charlotte -- led by guard Shannon McCallum, who had 17 points -- was relentless in capitalizing on Spider mistakes. Each missed rebound or careless foul seemed to translate to 49er points.

Beginning the second half, the Spiders shot 0-for-6, allowing Charlotte to gain an eight-point advantage. The momentum later shifted and the Spiders got back in the game, propelled by two good shots from Shells and an offensive blitz by guard Samantha Bilney, who finished the game with 11 points.

"I like to get out and run around on the court," Bilney said. "We got some steals, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

Bilney gave Richmond their first lead since the opening minutes of the game by hitting an open three point shot, which put the Spiders up 36-35.

Despite a scrappy and hard-fought second-half effort, the Spiders could not hold on to the lead. Any chance of a comeback was lost when with four minutes to go the 49ers received three fresh shot clocks because of offensive rebounds.

"We couldn't buy a bucket in the first half," Bilney said. "But we stuck with it and fought back. We never gave up and I'm proud of that."

Shafer agreed that the team had played tough basketball through the second half. Shells became hot late in the game, contributing to the Spider comeback to finish the game with 15 points, a team high.

"We have to get more bodies on players at the defensive end," Shafer said. "That's how you disrupt their rhythm.

"We need to create a few more contested shots. Defensively we were not as good as we could have been."

Richmond, now 5-1 in the A-10, travels to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne University on Sunday.

Contact staff writer David Larter at david.larter@richmond.edu