University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
0-1
Columbia
1-1
Spider Comeback Effort Falls Short in Loss to Columbia
11/13/2016 | Women's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team (0-1) dug itself a hole in the first quarter of Sunday's season opener and fell just short of climbing all the way out of it, falling 58-65 to Columbia (1-1).
Richmond trailed by as many as 13 in the first quarter but managed to cut the Columbia lead down to just three on multiple occasions but was unable to take the extra step down the stretch. Micaela Parson canned 20 points to lead all scorers and Janelle Hubbard pitched in 16 on 6-12 shooting but it wasn't enough to lead the Spiders all the way back.
Freshman Jaide Hinds-Clarke came off the bench to score seven points and grab eight rebounds in just 14 minutes during her Spider debut. Fellow freshmen Ragan Wiseman and Daniella Hatcher also made their debuts on Sunday, combining for 23 minutes.
Kylie Murphree proved to be the spark plug on defense, collecting five steals for the seventh time in her career. She also scored six points, picked up three rebounds, handed out a pair of assists and even blocked two shots.
Richmond was just 1-14 from the floor in the first quarter and trailed 18-5 but came storming back before the half was over. The Spiders bested Columbia, 19-13 in the second quarter and had the momentum going into the locker room after Hubbard picked up a steal and stuck a jumper just before the buzzer.
The Lion lead was down to six by the start of the fourth quarter. Hubbard hit each of her first three shots but the two sides continued to trade buckets after Richmond pulled to within three with 7:10 to go. Columbia managed to do just enough to hold off the charging Spiders down the stretch to pick up the win.
The Spiders will be at home again on Wednesday when they host in-state rival Virginia for the first time since the 2011-12 season when the Cavaliers visited for the second round of the WNIT. The game will tip off at 7 p.m.
