University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Rhode Island
Women's Basketball Tops Rhode Island, 70-56
02/18/2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2007
KINGSTON, R.I. - The Richmond women's basketball team concluded its road slate with a 70-56 victory over Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon, earning its sixth-straight win over the Rams. Four Spiders reached double figures in the win, led by Johanna McKnight with 14 points.
While McKnight put in 14 points and six rebounds, notching her 11th double-digit performance of the season, freshman Nikita Thomas recorded 12 points off of 5-of-6 shooting, in addition to grabbing seven rebounds. Sophomore Sarah Williams also added 12 points and five assists, and freshman Kara Powell chipped in 10 points to go along with five assists as the Spiders notched their fifth win in the last six road games.
"I thought our whole basketball team played really well," stated head coach Michael Shafer. "I thought Rhode Island gave us different looks in terms of full court pressure and trying to take Kara out of the game. Our players did a good job of making adjustments and getting the ball to the right player. You can look at the box score and see how the scoring was broken down and see that we played good basketball. I think our team is excited about coming home for the last two games of the year and finishing strong."
Although Rhode Island grabbed the first basket, neither team was able to take full control of the game in the first nine minutes of play. McKnight and Thomas combined for the Spiders' first eight points, as the score seesawed back-and-forth, knotting six different times. Finally, at the 11:33 mark, after Williams hit her fifth-straight point, the Spiders grabbed their first lead of the game and rolled on from there.
After building a five-point advantage, the Spiders lost the lead for the first time in over eight minutes (with just under 3:30 left in the half) after Rhode Island's Amanda McGrew hit her third 3-pointer of the game to knot the game (29-29); however, less than 20 seconds later, Powell responded with a trey and Williams grabbed a steal on the defensive end for a fast break and another Spider advantage.
Williams hit her 10th point in the final minute of the half off a trey to end the half as the only scorer in double-figures.
In the second half, Richmond built up a 13-point advantage in just over a minute's play, holding the Rams within a 10-point reach the rest of the way. Despite recording eight of their 13 turnovers in the second half, the Spiders kept strong, building a 15-point lead three different times in the final eight minutes.
Richmond shot 48.3% (28-58) from the field, the second-straight road game hitting over 48% of their shots, to finish with the 70-56 win, handing Rhode Island (6-20, 4-8 in A-10) its fourth-straight loss.
Rhode Island's Safi Mojidi led the Rams with a game-high 16 points after 7-of-10 shooting from the field, while teammate McGrew followed with 11 points after putting in 3-of-4 from behind the arch.
The Spiders (12-15, 6-6 in A-10) will head home to wrap up their regular season schedule, playing host to Saint Louis on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Dayton on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Live coverage for all of the Spiders' contests will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
