University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Saint Louis
Powell Nets Season-High, Menna Returns In Loss At St. Louis
02/03/2016 | Women's Basketball
SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team (9-13, 2-7 A-10) battled Saint Louis (18-5, 8-2 A-10) in the first half of Wednesday afternoon's matchup but big runs in the second and fourth quarters by the Billikens made up the difference in this one as the home team was able to come away with the 73-48 victory.
Janelle Hubbard paced the Richmond scoring with 15 points, which included a 3-8 effort from beyond the arc and Bria Powell pitched in a season-high 12 points as the lone Spider to join Hubbard in double figures. As a team Richmond put forth its best effort of the season from the free throw line, going 10-10. Tuuli Menna returned from injury after missing 13 games and scored three points on 1-3 shooting, grabbed one rebound and blocked a shot.
The pace of the game early in the first quarter was about as fast as it could be with both teams flying up and down, running offense and scoring with ease. The Spiders had a pair of triples from Parson and Hubbard fall in the early going. Hubbard added a pull-up jumper before the first whistle of the game came with 4:21 left on the first quarter clock, at which point the two teams were knotted in an 8-8 tie.
Bria Powell canned a jumper as Richmond emerged from the media timeout and Hubbard hit another jumper in the lane to give the Spiders their first lead of the game, 12-10, with 3:29 left in the quarter. Saint Louis locked in from there and kept Richmond off the board the rest of the way. After one it was the Billikens leading by two, 14-12.
To begin the second quarter, Hubbard found herself open in the corner and hit her second triple of the game, giving her 10 points already and putting Richmond back in the lead by one. Parson hit a pair of free throws on the next possession to push the lead to three with just under eight minutes to go in the half. Two possessions later, however, SLU answered with a three ball of its own to knot the score once again.
From there the Billikens built a 7-0 run to take a 21-17 lead before Parson collected her own rebound on a missed three and finished inside before the media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Tuuli Menna made her return to the court after missing 13 games and Kylie Murphree scored her first basket of the game to tie the game but SLU went on to close the half 15-2 run to take a 36-23 lead into the locker rooms.
The two sides traded baskets for much of the third quarter. Janelle Hubbard buried another three ball from the corner go give her 15 for the game and the Spiders managed to get the deficit down to 11 but that was as close as they would come in the third. By the end of the quarter SLU held a 13-point lead, 50-37.
The Billikens came out hot in the fourth quarter and effectively put this one away with a quick, 9-0, run thanks to a corner triple and a pair of three-point plays inside. That run continued to grow and eventually reached 15-0 before Powell stopped it with a jumper at the top of the lane. Menna later scored her first points of the game on a three from the wing. The Billikens would coast to the finish line with a 73-48 victory.
Richmond returns to the Robins Center this weekend to host George Washington on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game will be the first of four-straight at home for the Spiders who will subsequently host Davidson (Feb. 10), VCU (Feb. 14) and Fordham (Feb. 17). George Washington (19-3, 9-0 A-10) is the lone remaining unbeaten team in Atlantic 10 play entering Wednesday's games.
