University of Richmond
VCU
Women's Hoops Sweeps VCU To Earn A-10's Five-Seed
03/01/2015 | Women's Basketball
Sophomore guard Janelle Hubbard (Glenn Dale, Maryland) put up a game-high 17 points and the Richmond defense held VCU to a 30 percent shooting day as the Spiders clinched the five-seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championships after a 55-49 win on the final day of the regular season at the Siegel Center. The win gives Richmond a 17-12 regular season record, finishing 9-7 in the A-10. VCU falls to 16-13 and 7-9 in the league.
A layup from redshirt senior Genevieve Okoro (Gibbsboro, New Jersey) with 6:46 remaining in regulation gave UR a 43-41 lead and the Spiders never lost it the rest of the way. Okoro and senior Liz Brown (Baltimore, Maryland) were part of a quality defensive effort, blocking two shots each. This was the eighth multi-block game for both of them this season.
Down 9-0 to start the game, the Spiders held the lead for just over a minute in the opening half following a 10-4 run, and later a 6-0 run, but shot their way to the win in the second half.
“March is our time of year,” said UR head coach Michael Shafer. “The process has been, 'Get to March.' I told them before the game, it just so happens that today is March first and we get one tune-up before we play the A-10 Tournament.”
The Spiders held the Rams to just 29 percent shooting in the first period to stay in the game. Only one Ram, Camille Calhoun, shot better than 50 percent in the game.
After missing all eight three-point attempts in the first half, the Spiders knocked down the first two they saw in the second, when junior Lauren Tolson (Frederick, Maryland) and freshman Micaela Parson (North Chesterfield, Virginia / Monacan HS) drilled threes to keep the score within four.
Save for a five-second period when the game was tied in the first 12 minutes of the second half, Richmond reeled in the Rams due to a 44 percent shooting clip in the second period. Richmond held the Rams to 31 percent in the second, which included a stretch of 2-for-17 from the field by the Rams to aid in the victory.
Okoro was a point away from her seventh double-double of the season with nine points and 10 rebounds. Tolson finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, just shy of her second career double-double. She leads UR with 23 games with 10 or more points this year.
Richmond was 5-for-7 from three-point range in the second half to spur on the comeback.
The Spiders will play their opening game of the A-10 Tournament Thursday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the first game (12-seed versus 13-seed) of the Wednesday session at the Richmond Coliseum. The game will be streamed on the A-10 Network.
