University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
George Washington
Women's Basketball Falls Short At No. 12/14 George Washington, 57-50
01/09/2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Despite a career-high 22 points from junior Christina Campion, the Richmond women's basketball team fell short in it's A-10 opener with No. 12/14 George Washington at the Charles E. Smith Center on Tuesday night, dropping its first contest in the last three games.
"I thought we came out timid in the first half offensively, which was evident with the amount turnovers we had," stated Richmond head coach Michael Shafer. "We did a better job in the second half taking care of the basketball and executing the offense. Defensively, I thought we did a very good job. On George Washington's end, on the initial possession, we gave up too many second chance points, but I was proud of our ability to fight and crawl against a very good basketball team on the road."
George Washington (12-2, 1-0 in A-10), the third nationally-ranked opponent on the Spiders' schedule, earned its fifth straight win and eighth in the last nine contests on Tuesday night.
Although the Colonials put in a basket in the 22nd second of the game to take the first lead, seven consecutive points by Campion pushed Richmond ahead of George Washington by three at the 15:53 marker. After surrendering four-straight points to the Colonials and losing their lead, Richmond sophomore Sarah Williams hit a shot just in front of the 3-point line, breaking the Spiders' three and a half minute drought and giving the Spiders another lead.
Over the next eight and a half minutes, the game sea-sawed back and fourth by, at the most, three points, and by the close of the intense half, the lead had changed hands four times and was knotted five different times.
Despite the close battle throughout the majority of the half, the Colonials used a 10-2 run in the final 3:44 of play to pull away from the Spiders and finish with an eight-point (27-19) halftime advantage. Campion was the only player on the court to finish the half in double-figures, putting in 11 first-half points off a 5-9 effort and a perfect 1-1 effort from behind the arch.
The Colonials continued their momentum to the second half, pulling away with an 11-point lead twice before the Spiders would close it to a six-point game at the 12:12 mark. Just over three minutes later; however, the Spiders were facing a 13-point deficit and would use two-straight treys to close the game to a seven-point difference with just under seven minutes remaining in Richmond's attempt for a comeback.
After once again facing an 11-point lead, this time with just under three minutes to go, Campion sunk two straight threes in the final 1:12 of play to give the Spiders their last bit of hope, pulling the game within six points; however, the Colonials hit a free throw to secure the seven-point victory, and the second-straight over the Spiders.
While Campion led all scorers with 22 points after hitting 3-of-6 from the 3-point line, Williams also chipped in eight points, freshman Katie Holzer put in six points and pulled a team-high six boards. "I thought she played very well offensively and defensively," said Shafer of Campion. "She limited their chances and obviously shot the ball very well."
Whitney Allen and Kenan Cole led the Colonials to their eighth-straight win at home with 14 points apiece, while Jazmine Adair recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Spiders (6-10, 0-1 in A-10) now return home for a noon tip-off with the Massachusetts Minutewomen on Friday, Jan. 12. Live coverage for Friday's contests will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
