University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Battle Conference Rival Old Dominion on Saturday
03/01/2001 | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2001
RICHMOND, Va. - Winners of three straight games, five of its last six and seven of its past ten contests, the University of Richmond women's basketball team (16-11, 10-5 CAA) concludes regular season action on Saturday, March 3, facing conference power and first place Old Dominion (18-8, 14-1 CAA) at 7 p.m. at the Robins Center.
The game will mark the final regular season home contest for Richmond's trio of seniors: Carolyn Constantakis, Candice Edwards and Lizz Greene. The contest will be broadcast by Sports Radio AM 910 WRNL with Bob Black providing the play-by-play and former Spider Many Hester adding color commentary. Sixteen (16) wins on the season and 10 conference victories equals the program's highest win total since the 1996-97 campaign when the Spiders were 16-11 and 10-6 in league play. Richmond is coming off of a 93-88 home victory over American last Sunday. Since seeing its 113-game conference win streak halted in a 49-48 road loss at James Madison on February 18, Old Dominion has reeled off three straight wins at William & Mary (78-32 on Feb. 22), versus George Mason (65-36 on Feb. 25) and at VCU (93-82 on Feb. 28).
Spider junior point guard Candice Edwards follows in point production with 10.9 ppg and is averaging a team-best 2.4 steals per game. In Richmond's two-game sweep last week, Edwards averaged 21.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 4.5 stlspg. She had a team-best 22 points to go along with six boards and three steals against VCU on Feb. 22. Edwards delivered a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double last Sunday versus American and matched a season-high with six steals. Sophomore guard Elise Ryder is third among Spider scoring leaders, averaging 8.5 ppg. Ryder is also connecting on a team and league-best 2.22 treys per game. Sophomore center Ebony Tanner paces Richmond in rebounding with 7.2 boards per contest and is fourth among team scoring leaders with 7.9 ppg.
Among NCAA Division I women's basketball statistical leaders as of February 26, 2001, Spider junior point guard Michele Koclanes ranked seventh in the nation in assists with 7.4 per game. As a team, Richmond is 14th in scoring offense with 79.6 points per game.
The game will mark the final regular season CAA contest between the two programs.
