University of Richmond Athletics
Women's Basketball Set To Host Providence Friday
11/13/2014 | Women's Basketball
LIVE STATS: www.RichmondSpiders.com
LIVE STREAM: www.RichmondSpiders.com
SERIES: First Meeting
RICHMOND SPIDERS (0-0, 0-0 A-10)
Roster | Coaches | Schedule/Results | Twitter | Game Notes
PROVIDENCE FRIARS (0-0, 0-0 BIG EAST)
Roster | Coaches | Schedule/Results | Twitter | Game Notes
THE SERIES
This is the first meeting between the two teams. The Spiders are 63-32 all-time in season openers and are 22-12 in home openers dating back to the 1979-80 season.
THE SPIDERS
Richmond, who finished eighth in the A-10 last season return four starters from last year's 14-win squad, including preseason all-conference honoree Genevieve Okoro. The Gibbsboro, N.J., native averaged 11.6 ppg, a team-high 8.7 rpg and also led the team with 30 blocks. The Spiders welcome five freshmen that look to make a huge impact immediately.
THE FRIARS
The Friars finished the 2013-14 season with a 7-23 overall record and a 2-16 mark in the BIG EAST to finished 10th in the conference. Providence College returns all five members of its starting line-up from last season. Tori Rule leads the squad with 16.1 ppg with a 40.6 percent from the field.
PICK-6
Richmond was tabbed to finish sixth in the A-10 in a poll conducted by the league's head coaches Tuesday, Oct. 21. The Spiders received 104 votes for sixth place. NCAA participant Dayton was selected to finish first, collecting all 14 first-place votes. Defending champion Fordham was tabbed to finish fifth, while George Washington and Saint Joseph's rounded out the top-3.
OKORO IS BACK
The Spiders returned one of their most versatile players in Genevieve Okoro this past season as she suffered a torn ACL at Whichita State Nov. 23, 2012. She is right back were she left off as she leads Richmond with averaging 11.6 ppg and 8.7 rpg. Last season, she tallied seven double-doubles and 21 double-digit scoring games to be placed on the 2014-15 A-10 Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
SHAFER CLOSE TO BECOMING RICHMOND'S WINNINGEST HEAD COACH
Richmond head coach Michael Shafer enters his 10th season as the second winningest coach in Richmond women's basketball history. Shafer is 155-126 all-time and is just 11 wins away from surpassing Fanny Crenshaw, Richmond's long-time coach of 35 years, who has an all-time record of 166-58-6 spanning from 1919-1955 that sits atop Richmond's all-time win list. In Shafer's nine years, the Spiders have recorded at least 13 wins each season.
OKORO 48 POINTS AWAY FROM 1,000 POINT CLUB
Redshirt-senior Genevieve Okoro is just 48 points shy of becoming Richmond's 21st women's basketball player in the 1,000 points club. Okoro scored 349 points last season, while averaging 11.6 points per game. Prior to last season, Okoro had tallied 603 points.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
On Friday, May 9, 2014, the Richmond community lost two cherished Spiders, Ginny Doyle and Natalie Lewis, in a hot air balloon accident. The two were beloved members of the Richmond women's basketball staff as well as Richmond alumnae. Doyle spent the last 15 seasons as an assistant women's basketball coach with her most recent title, associate head coach, while Lewis was a four-year letterwinner and two-year captain on the swimming and diving team and had just completed her second season on the women's basketball staff as the director of operations.
During each contest on Friday, at halftime the Doyle and Lewis families will be honored during a special presentation.
UP NEXT
Richmond will remain home for the next two contests, hosting Georgetown Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. and Longwood Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
