The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Richmond women's basketball coasts past Rhode Island, 68-49

The University of Richmond women's basketball team took care of business Tuesday, taking down a University of Rhode Island team that came into the game having lost 18 games in a row.

In a game that started at noon, the Spiders took the lead two minutes into the game and led the rest of the way, finishing with a 68-49 victory in the Robins Center.

"The positive is we didn't have a letdown, and I think a lot of it is we have players who actually like to play," Richmond coach Michael Shafer said. "I didn't expect a letdown, but we certainly tried to guard against it."

Leading the way for the Spiders was senior Abby Oliver, who finished with a team-high 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting. As the only senior on a team full of freshmen and sophomores, Oliver continues to lead the team in scoring.

"Abby just refuses to lose," Shafer said. "I wish that Abby could keep playing here forever, but we're going to let her lead us a little bit longer because that competitiveness needs to trickle down to these kids too because they need to understand what it takes to win.

After taking a 10-point lead into halftime, the Spiders pulled away with a quick 10-0 run to start the second half. The run was led by Oliver, junior Rachael Bilney and freshman Liz Brown. Bilney finished second on the team with 17 points, while Brown posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

"I'm just really glad that I was able to go out and do what coach asked me to do and get on the boards and just help my team get the win today," Brown said.

The Rams dropped to 1-21 on the year, with only one player, Megan Staumann, scoring in double digits. She finished with 10 points.

With the win, Richmond increases its record to 17-5 on the season, with a 5-3 mark in conference, good for sixth place in a tightly contested Atlantic 10 Conference. Three of the teams ahead of the Spiders -- Temple University, University of Dayton and St. Bonaventure University -- have already beaten Richmond head-to-head. The losses to Temple and Dayton were by a combined four points.

"We have confidence," Oliver said. "We've lost some close games, but we can't get down on ourselves. We have to keep looking at the next game and focusing on what we can control for that."

That next game will come against another one of the teams ahead of Richmond in the A-10 standings, Saint Joseph's University, at the Robins Center on Saturday. The game will tipoff at 1 p.m. and will be nationally televised.

"When you've got the opportunity to be on television, particularly when you're coming down the stretch, you know the NCAA committee is watching," Shafer said. "We need to make sure that we show as best we can what we're capable of doing."

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Game Notes: Richmond guard Becca Wann was all over the stat sheet, finishing with eight points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals... Shafer remained undefeated in his career against Rhode Island, moving to 8-0... There was a large crowd for the first half of play thanks to the university hosting "Dream Big Day," which allowed multiple elementary schools to be in attendance.

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu

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