University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Connecticut
Women's Basketball Falls At No. 8 Connecticut
11/13/2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. - Christina Campion tied her career-high 20 points off a career-high four three-pointers as the Richmond women's basketball team dropped an 84-50 decision to the 2006 Big East Champions on Monday night at the Hartford Civic Center in front of 12,883 women's basketball enthusiasts. The No. 8 Connecticut Huskies improve to 1-0 after winning their season opener, while the Spiders conclude their first road trip of the season with a 1-1 mark.
Also contributing to the Spiders' efforts, freshman Johanna McKnight added seven points apiece, while sophomore Sarah Williams put in five points and freshman Nikita Thomas led the team with 10 boards.
Connecticut's Mel Thomas paced all scorers with 23 points off of five treys, while teammate Charde Houston followed closely behind, just one rebound shy of a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. Rounding out the Huskies in double-figures, Kalana Greene added 14 points and Renee Montgomery put in 12 points, while Tina Charles led the team in rebounding with 10.
"Coming into this game, we knew that UConn was a Final Four basketball team," stated head coach Michael Shafer. "If everything gels for them, they are going to be in Cleveland. We've got five freshmen and we are starting two of them; our goal was to compete hard for 40 minutes and I think we did that."
The Huskies opened the game with a basket in the first eight seconds of play and continued to run with the lead until a three by McKnight put the Spiders up 7-5 just under three minutes into the game. However, Connecticut's Charles hit a shot to tie the game at 16:50 and then teammate Houston stole the ball and drove to take the lead once again and the Huskies never looked back.
The Huskies went on a 13-0 run in a 3:02 stretch, including three treys by Thomas, to take a 16-point advantage over the Spiders with just under 6:30 remaining. From there, Connecticut continued to build its lead, putting together a 21-point advantage over the Spiders and heading into halftime with an 18-point lead.
While Connecticut's Thomas paced all scorers in the first half with 18 points off of four three-pointers, Richmond's Campion led her team with 12 first half points, eight of which came in the final six minutes of play when she was the only Spider to put points on the board.
Campion continued her scoring ways into the second half when she scored eight of the Spiders' first 10 points, including two treys, to cut the gap to just 13 points at the 17:58 mark. The Huskies; however, didn't let the Spiders inch too close as they took off with a 34 point lead over the Spiders before the buzzer.
"We just didn't shoot the ball well tonight, but that is to Connecticut's credit," continued Shafer. But this was a good experience for our kids to grow and learn to take back to the A-10."
The Spiders will now return to Richmond for a two-game home stand, as it hosts William and Mary on Thursday in their home opener at the Robins Center at 7:00 p.m. Live coverage of Thursday's contest will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
