Last-second shot by Shells advances Spiders in WNIT

With the score tied at 57 points and 15 seconds left in the game, Richmond sophomore Brittani Shells turned to her trademark move: a pull-up jump shot.

"Every time I practice by myself, it's always a pull-up," Shells said. "That's what I did. If I was going to one move, it's going to be the move I practice all the time."

Shells hit the pull-up jumper at the foul line with two seconds left in the game to give the University of Richmond women's basketball team a 59-57 win over James Madison University in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Robins Center.

"I was nervous," Shells said. "But I thank my coaches and teammates for having faith in me and saying 'Go ahead and do it. If you miss it, OK, but if you make it, great.'"

Shells got the inbound pass at half court and started to drive with 10 seconds left. She then took a dribble to the left, brought the ball back to the right and took the shot.

JMU had tied the game at 57 with a pair of free throws by sophomore Jalissa Taylor with 23 seconds left.

The game was tight throughout, with no team taking a double-digit lead at any point in the game. The largest lead for either team came early in the first half when the Spiders were up by six points.

Shells, an Atlantic 10 All-Conference First-Team member, was matched against sophomore Dawn Evans, JMU's All-Colonial Athletic Association First-Team guard. Shells called Evans the toughest player that she had faced all year.

Shells and Evans finished the game with 19 points each. Shells was limited to only 26 minutes because of foul trouble, while Evans played 38 minutes.

Richmond coach Michael Shafer won in his post-season debut. He received some advice from other coaches prior to the game.

"Everybody I talked to before coming into play this basketball game said one thing to me: 'As long as you win by one point, it really doesn't matter.' Fortunately for us, we won by two," Shafer said.

Both of the teams reached their respective conference tournaments and had a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.

"The NIT is not a second-rate tournament," Shafer said. "There's good basketball teams in it. That was a NCAA-type basketball game. That was a heck of a lot better than some of the ones I've been watching."

Richmond shot only 31 percent from the floor for the game and only 22 percent from beyond the three-point line in its first game in 13 days.

"I thought there was a little bit of rust early on," Shafer said. "I thought we were a little bit less aggressive as the first half wore on. We weren't looking to shoot the basketball as much as we could have.

"For the most part, our defense kept us in the basketball game. In the second half, we made some plays that we needed to make both offensively and defensively to win the game. "

Senior Johanna McKnight and freshman Abby Oliver added 13 points each for Richmond. Oliver's 13 points is a career-high.

Richmond will play in the third round of the WNIT at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Georgetown University, which defeated Wake Forest University 72-61 on Sunday.

Said Shafer: "Any time you get to play another game, it's a positive thing."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu