Spiders overcome slow start to beat the Bonnies, 56-50

Despite not scoring its first field goal until almost 10 minutes into the first half, the University of Richmond was able to defeat Atlantic 10 Conference foe St. Bonaventure, 56-50.

Relying heavily on defense, the Spiders were able to go into halftime tied despite shooting about 29 percent from the field.

In the second half, Richmond came out strong behind its two leading scorers Brittani Shells and Abby Oliver. After the duo shot a combined 3-for-17 during the first, they scored 24 or the team's 33 points during the second.

Shells scored 10 of her game-high 18 points during the second half. "I was just being patient," Shells said. "As a jump shooter, you have to continue to shoot whether you're missing or making and that's what I did."

Oliver added 14 points (all in the second half), while also tallying 12 rebounds. "I don't think I changed much," Oliver said. "I just think, in the first half, my shots weren't falling despite getting pretty good looks, but in the second, I tried to do a little more than just shooting, like rebounding and playing good defense, and that helped me on offense too."

After leading for a total of eight seconds during the first half, the Spiders led the entire second half after Oliver's early 3-pointer. The 56 points were the second lowest in a win this season for Richmond, having beaten Fordham with 55 in its most recent game.

"I just told them that offensively we're going to be fine," Richmond coach Michael Shafer said. "I think defense is about effort, being tough, and just making plays. Offensively, it's a little bit more about execution and confidence and believing in what you're doing. We struggled with that because it's late in the season, our legs are tired, and teams have seen us more on tape."

The Bonnies' leading scorer on the season, Megan Van Tatenhove, was held to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

"[Van Tatenhove] is a very good at shooting the ball and she can also put it on the floor and she's a center and that's hard to guard for centers," Shafer said. "We felt like if we could make her pick [up her dribble], and make her one-dimensional, we would make it really tough for their basketball team and I thought we did a really good job of digging down when she dribbled the ball, making her pick it up early so she couldn't keep going by us."

The Spiders closed out the first half on a 7-0 run, capped off by a Brittani Shells 3-pointer with a few seconds before the buzzer.

The win brings the Spiders to 15-8 and they will next face nationally ranked Xavier at home at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The loss drops the Bonnies to 15-9 as they travel home next to face Temple.

Game Notes:

The double-double recorded by Oliver was first of her career. ... Richmond starting forward Samatha Bilney only played 3 minutes of the first half after picking up two quick fouls. ... Jessica Jenkins was the leading scorer for the Bonnies with 13.

Contact reporter David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu