University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Old Dominion
Big Second Half Propels Richmond Past Old Dominion, 62-57
11/13/2015 | Women's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – On the strength of a brilliant offensive effort in the third quarter, the Richmond women's basketball team was able to hold off Old Dominion to come away with a 62-57 season-opening victory at the Robins Center.
The Spiders led by as many as 12 early in the fourth quarter after trailing by nine, 19-10 with 9:09 to play in the second quarter. The Spiders used a 22-point third to erase all deficits and take control of the game for good.
Richmond guard Janelle Hubbard poured in 20 points to lead all scorers on Friday night with Micaela Parson and Lauren Tolson chipping in 13 and 12, respectively. Freshman forward Salita Greene debuted with seven points and five rebounds in just 18 minutes of action while fellow freshman Tuuli Menna made the first start of her career and tossed in six points to go with five boards.
Hubbard's effort marked the 44th double-digit scoring night for the junior who inched closer to becoming the 22nd player in program history to eclipse 1,000 points. She now has 823. Lauren Tolson started her 44th-straight game.
Richmond jumped out to an early six-point lead, making its first two shots then stood tall on defense before Karleigh Wike converted her first bucket of the season to make it 8-2 in the early going. ODU quickly erased that lead however, tying the score 10-10 with 3:38 to play in the first quarter.
The Richmond offense would go cold and the Lady Monarchs were able to use a 10-0 run at the end of the first to take a 17-10 lead into the first break. ODU dominated the paint in the opening frame, 6-2 and used a clear size advantage to pick up five second chance points to UR's zero. ODU also added eight points off the bench to create some separation.
ODU extended the lead to nine to being the second quarter but a Tolson triple stopped the drought for the Spiders. The deficit grew nine a second time with 3:54 to play in the half but a lift from the freshman Greene kept it from reaching double-digits. Hubbard stuck a pair of jumpers and a free throw from Greene made it a 28-24 game heading to the locker rooms.
The Spiders came out hot to begin the second half and quickly erased the four-point hole with layups on breakouts by Parson and Menna. The first Richmond lead since the early first quarter came when Hubbard missed a jumper, collected her own rebound and converted the put back to push Richmond ahead 34-32.
ODU tied the score once more but a pair of free throws from Hubbard with 4:05 to play in the third put the Spiders ahead for good. Greene added four free throws down the stretch in the third to push the Richmond lead up to 10 at the final break.
Parson added a jumper in the lane to make it a 12-point Richmond lead with 8:44 to play in the game but ODU had plenty of fight left. The Lady Monarchs switched to a zone and completely stymied the Richmond offense for an extended period, dropping the UR lead all the way down to two with 3:14 to play. The Robins Center would soon erupt when Tolson and Parson buried triples on back-to-back possessions, swinging the momentum back in Richmond's favor.
Old Dominion went back to work chipping away at the lead but Richmond managed to sink its free throws down the stretch, 21-22 from the line for the game, to secure the season-opening victory, 62-57. The Spiders will return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Robins Center opposite Eastern Kentucky.
