Spiders’ bid for a Cinderella story falls short in loss to UCLA
By Jimmy James | March 24, 2025The UR women's basketball team fell to the UCLA Bruins 84-67 on Sunday night in the Round of 32 NCAA Tournament.
The UR women's basketball team fell to the UCLA Bruins 84-67 on Sunday night in the Round of 32 NCAA Tournament.
The University of Richmond women's basketball team defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 74-49 in a Round of 64 NCAA Tournament victory on Friday, March 21.
For the second-straight season and the fifth time in program history, the Spiders will head to the NCAA Tournament – a perfect consolation prize for not winning their conference tournament.
Nonetheless, the Spiders spent 40 minutes attempting to rise above their ever-present limitations, trying to see if there was any magic left over in the floorboards of the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. where, almost three years ago to the day, they won their fourth game in four days to win the 2022 Atlantic 10 Championship and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
In the end, though, the Hawks, who outscored the Spiders 13-9 over the final 10 minutes of regulation, were the ones who emerged victorious 50-49 – by a point, and in a matter of seconds.
University of Richmond women’s basketball team won 63-58 in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinal over Duquesne University at the Henrico Sports and Events Center on March 7.
“He was a tremendous person with just an incredible personality and a big heart, great family,” UR Head Coach Chris Mooney said. “But he was also a really important piece from kind of the older generation of players, fans, alums, ‘cause he was a star player for Coach Tarrant’s teams, some of the best teams we’ve ever had.”
With now eight losses on the season and conference play on the horizon, the Spiders proved yet again that they have yet to show the consistency needed for the conference portion of their schedule.
The Spiders started the season 9-1 and in just a week’s time now sit at 9-4 following matchups against three strong Southeastern Conference programs.
“We need to build off of these things and just keep grinding away and hopefully get better and better,” Mooney said.