Women's basketball prepares for A-10 tourney

After earning a first-round bye, the University of Richmond women's basketball team will begin the Atlantic 10 tournament in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte's Halton Arena in Charlotte, N.C.

The Spiders, who finished the regular season in a four-way tie for third place with Duquesne University, George Washington University and St. Bonaventure University, snagged the fourth seed and final bye because of its 3-1 record against these teams.

The team need three wins for an A-10 title and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. With five members injured, they have nine players to get them there.

Richmond will play the winner of Friday's 2:30 p.m. game between University of Rhode Island and GW, a team red-shirt senior Johanna McKnight said was Richmond's conference rival. Richmond beat GW by one point and URI by 5 points during the season.

But according to McKnight, it wouldn't matter which team Richmond played.

"When you start dwelling on other teams, you start losing focus on your team," McKnight said.

Richmond will play top-seed and two-year defending A-10 champion Xavier University on Sunday if both teams win their Saturday games. Xavier, undefeated in the conference until losing to Temple University on Feb. 25, is favored to win the A-10 tournament, Shafer said. This has been Xavier's best start to a season during its 13-year A-10 membership, according to the conference Web site.

"Xavier is right now head and shoulders above everybody," Shafer said.

After second- and third-seeded Temple and Charlotte, which tied for second with three conference losses, Shafer said it had been a logjam for the remaining seeds. The top 12 teams - every team except Fordham University and La Salle University -- made the A-10 tournament.

Spider players said the team was in a better position this season to advance in the tournament because of its new on-court winning mentality and off-court team cohesiveness. They were 9-5 in conference and 21-8 overall after beating St. Louis University on Sunday for the first time in McKnight's career.

"The season's going 110 percent better," said Brittani Shells, sophomore point guard and leading scorer. "Last year we were at this point 13-17 or 13-16."

Sophomore forward/center Crystal Goring said Richmond was a different team this season with a different, focused mindset.

"Winning is more important than anything else," Goring said.

The team also spends more time laughing about its mistakes together in the locker room before and after practices and games, McKnight said. Every player now rooms with a teammate, Shells said.

"We've gotten to learn and grow as a team," McKnight said.

The players' reliance on each other has been crucial considering injuries. Besides junior guard Kara Powell, who had been the starting point guard last season, four of five on the injured list are forwards.

Neither Powell nor junior forward Katie Holzer, an on-and-off starter, has played a game all year, Shafer said. Freshman forward Sam Bilney, who had started every game of her career, has a knee injury. Freshman forward Joyous Tharrington has a hip injury and redshirt sophomore center/forward Kristen Phillips, an injured foot.

"We've just adapted to playing with less depth and smaller players," Shafer said, but he said there ought to be a level of confidence among the remaining nine healthy members because each knew she would play.

"This is us," he said he told the team during a huddle last week at Fordham, where the Spiders grasped their 20th win.

"The whole team stepped up," McKnight said, but credited feisty post players senior Augustina Zygaite, junior Nikita Thomas and Goring. "No one's second-guessing themselves anymore."

Shafer said the team would depend on Shells, who took Powell's role as point guard, to continue to be a catalyst and create scoring opportunities for her teammates and herself. Shells suffered a finger injury on her shooting hand against Duquesne on Feb. 1, but said she barely noticed it as more than a jammed finger at practice.

"The sky's the limit for us," Shells said. "We don't want to lose, and we have seniors who don't want to lose because they want to keep playing."

McKnight, who Shafer said was doing what he hoped seniors would - play their best basketball through their final season - said a key to winning the tournament was playing a full 40 minutes. The Spiders come out strong, she said, but with one break, other teams take advantage.

Goring said the team would rely on playing simple, fundamental basketball, playing with a lot of heart and playing defense.

"Our defense is our strength," Goring said. "We still can win the A-10s if we go in and play the way we know how."

Shells summarized the team's strengths this way: "We can all put the ball in the basket. We have a great defense. We have a great chemistry on the floor."

The players also don't accept losing or failure, Shafer said. He attributed the infusion of positive energy to the four freshmen, whose high school teams had all won their state championships their senior years. Three had won as juniors too. The fourth, Tharrington, only lost to future Richmond teammate, Abby Oliver, but the pair are now roommates and best friends, Shafer said.

The returning players welcomed them with positive attitudes, ready to change their record of losing close games, Shafer said.

And they have.

"Anytime you win 20 games," Shafer said, "it means you had a very successful year."

McKnight said winning 20 games and re-gaining the respect in the conference had achieved half the team's goals.

Winning the A-10 and advancing to the NCAAs would complete the list.

McKnight, who passed the 1,000-point mark Feb. 21 against Temple, said winning the A-10's was realistic. She said she wished every member of her team could make it to the NCAAs as she did her freshman season in 2005, when Richmond lost to Florida State University during the first round.

The 2005 and 2009 squads are "completely different teams," McKnight said. She said her freshman year teammates had more experience, but this year's team had a good chance because it didn't hold anything back.

"It's going to take us getting down and dirty," she said. "Do or die because every game counts."

Shafer said two A-10 teams could make the tournament, but three would be a far cry. Shafer said Xavier was the favorite to proceed to the NCAAs, which begins March 21, but that Richmond was among the teams that could take the possible second slot.

"We're still battling," Shafer said. "We're still playing for something."

The team has nothing to lose, Goring said, but everything to gain.

Contact staff writer Maura Bogue at maura.bogue@richmond.edu