University of Richmond Athletics
Women's Basketball Returns to the Robins Center
01/13/2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2005
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond women's basketball returns home to the Robins Center this weekend as it plays a pair of league contests. Richmond faces Fordham on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and then takes on Duquesne on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The Spiders hope to preserve their unblemished record in conference action and improve to 5-0 for the first time since joining the league. With a win over the Rams, Richmond would tie the program's record for longest home win streak at 12 games, set during the 1990-91 season.
The games will be broadcast live on the internet at www.RichmondSpiders.com and Live Stats will be available through the Richmond website.
Richmond (12-1, 3-0) is coming off a 66-51 victory over St. Bonaventure in which four players scored in double-figures, the second time this season that has occurred. Senior Kate Flavin (Englewood, Colo.) earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors for the third time this season after averaging a double-double in last week's conference wins.
Fordham (4-11, 0-2) has lost its last four contests and is looking for its first conference win of the season. Three Rams are averaging double-figures in the scoring column with junior Vanessa Silva leading the team with 11.5 points per game. In national statistics, Fordham ranks among the Top 100 in just one category with its scoring defense (59.9) placing 96th.
Duquesne (5-8, 0-2) faces La Salle on Thursday night before Sunday afternoon's contest. Aiga Bautre paces the team with 15.9 points per game and ranks 10th in the country in free-throw percentage. The Dukes lead the conference in free throw percentage (.734) and blocks (4.5).
GAME NOTES
AGAINST THE ATLANTIC 10
Richmond currently owns a 39-33 record against members of the Atlantic 10 conference. In three seasons of regular season competition against conference members, the Spiders have posted a 29-20 record. In the league championships, Richmond owns a 2-3 mark. With their win over La Salle (1/4), the Spiders evened their record in A-10 conference openers at 2-2.
WHAT A START
Prior to its loss to #19 DePaul (12/30), Richmond was one of just five schools in the nation that remained undefeated. With their win over Dartmouth (12/29), the Spiders improved to 9-0 for the best opener since the 1970-71 season. In 1970-71, Richmond won 13 straight games and ended the season without a loss.
APPEARING IN THE POLLS
The Spiders are receiving votes in both national polls. Richmond received 31 votes in the most recent Associated Press rankings (1/10) and 42 votes in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches Poll (1/11 and is ranked 29th and 27th, respectively. The Spiders have never appeared in the Top 25. They are one of just two Atlantic 10 schools to be listed in the receiving votes section. In the preseason rankings, the Spiders received three votes and five votes, respectively. CBSsportsline.com had the Spiders at #36 in its preseason rankings.
RPI/SOS
The WBCA/Summerville RPI report (1/10) lists Richmond as 14th and at collegerpi.com, the Spiders are 11th (1/11). The Spiders' strength of schedule is 88th and 46th, respectively. In the WBCA RPI ratings, the next highest Atlantic 10 team is Temple at #44. Richmond's preseason overall strength of schedule was 71st in the county and its non-conference slate ranked 17th according to the WBCA report. Richmond's RPI finished 41st last year and the Spiders had the sixth highest RPI of teams that were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.
CAREER MARKS
Kate Flavin already has her name all over the Richmond record book. She is currently ranked among the Top 10 in five different career categories. She is third in made field goals (647) and steals (225), fourth in points (1549) and rebounds (949) and tied for sixth in blocks (51).
SCORING BY CLASS
The Spiders are led in scoring by the junior class, who is tallying 40% of Richmond's points. The senior class is second at 27% while the sophomore class is scoring 26%. Richmond's freshmen are adding seven percent of its point production.
STARTING FIVE
Prior to Richmond's win over Dartmouth (12/29), the combination of Kate Flavin had started 42 straight games. The group has reunited in the past three games and made their 45th start as a unit at St. Bonaventure (1/9). Gil has started all but two contests (77) in her two-year career and Flavin has made 82 consecutive appearances in the starting line-up.
