University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Georgetown
Gritty Spiders Push No. 12 Georgetown To Brink, But Fall 65-64
12/01/2010 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
A tenacious Richmond women's basketball team pushed No. 12 Georgetown to the brink but came up just short, falling 65-64 Wednesday night at McDonough Arena. The Spiders made a season-high 10 threes and Shells poured in a game-best 26 points.
Georgetown's Sugar Rodgers sunk the go-ahead bucket at the 1:03 mark to put the Hoyas ahead 63-61.
The last 30 seconds of the game was frenetic to say the least, as Georgetown's Monica McNutt made one of two free-throw tries to give the Spiders a chance at 64-61 with 16.6 seconds left.
Shells went for the quick jumper but it missed the back end of the rim and the Hoyas recovered the rebound. Again, only making one of two, Georgetown went up 65-61, but the Hoyas committed the unthinkable - a foul on Oliver right outside the three-point line. Oliver made two-of three with the obvious attempt to miss the third free-throw, but banked in the shot.
Rodgers got the rebound, missed the first free-throw and then was called for a lane violation on the second try, setting up a last-second shot attempt by the Spiders with two seconds left.
Becca Wann entered the game and threw the ball the length of the court but McNutt was there to thwart the Spiders' plans.
In what was clearly the best game of the season for the Spiders, Richmond sunk 10-of-15 long range shots, buoyed by the nation's 16th leading scorer Shells' 5-of-6 makes.
As the last minute can attest to, the game was a wild, competitive contest that saw eight different lead changes and seven ties.
After Georgetown jumped out to an 11-2 lead, Richmond calmly found its place and went on an 11-1 run to take its first lead at 13-12. And from there, it was a ballgame. The largest lead was Richmond's 59-53 advantage at the 6:40 mark.
Oliver followed Shells with a season-best 22 points and made 8-of-9 tries at the charity stripe.
Richmond shot a season-high 56 percent from the field, and made the most three-point shots since Jan. 16, 2010 against UMass (10).
The Spiders look to protect their home court with cross-town rival VCU Sunday at 2 p.m.
