University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
WILLIAM & MARY
Women's Basketball Drops Home Opener To William & Mary, 67-54
11/16/2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Sophomore Sarah Williams and redshirt sophomore Johanna McKnight led the Richmond women's basketball team with 12 points apiece as it dropped a 67-54 decision to William and Mary (1-1) in its home opener on Thursday night in the Robins Center. Freshman Nikita Thomas racked up her second-straight double-digit rebound performance, pulling down 10 boards.
While Williams, McKnight and Powell contributed double-figures for Richmond, freshman Erin Hawkins added nine points after hitting 2-3 from the three-point line, and Christina Campion put in six points and grabbed eight rebounds on the night.
William & Mary's Kyra Kaylor paced all scorers with 18 points and seven boards, after shooting a perfect 2-2 from behind the arch and 10-13 from the free throw line, while Dani Kell added 16 points and Devin James added 12 points and seven boards on the night.
While the Tribe's Kaylor put the first points on the board with two free throws, the Spiders opened with two three-pointers, taking their first of two leads (3-2) at 17:42 following Powell's opening trey. The Tribe captured the lead back for the next 2:35, until McKnight gave the Spiders' their second and last one-point advantage with 14:57 remaining in the first half as she sunk two foul shots.
William and Mary's Tiffany Benson hit a jumper to take an 8-7 lead, and over the next 10 minutes, the Tribe was able to build their lead up to seven; however, Richmond's McKnight put in seven points in the last 5:09 to cut the Tribe's lead to four just before halftime, ending the half with all 12 of her points, while Williams followed with eight.
The Tribe opened the second half with a 10-2 run to grow their lead to 12 at the 15:45 mark. Richmond was able to cut the lead to seven six different times throughout the next seven minutes, with Powell contributing eight of the Spiders' nine points in a six minute span to finally break the Tribe's lead to just six points (53-47) with 4:48 remaining in the game.
Despite the Spiders' efforts for a comeback, William and Mary was able to answer the Spiders' baskets with points of its own to secure the victory and it crept away with its largest lead of the game (15) with 1:07 and 0:43 remaining.
With Thursday's loss, the Spiders drop to 1-2 on the season and will conclude its two-game home stand with James Madison on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the Robins Center. Live coverage of Sunday's contests will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
