University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
13-14 (7-7)
Massachusetts
9-18 (3-11)
Tolson Returns, Spiders Roll to Big Win Over UMass, 56-45
02/16/2017 | Women's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team (13-14, 7-7 A-10) picked up a huge win at home against UMass (9-18, 3-11 A-10) on Wednesday night, 56-45, to move into eight place in the Atlantic 10 standings and in position for a home game in the conference tournament with just two games left in the regular season.
With the win tonight, head coach Michael Shafer became the first coach in program history to reach the 200-win milestone. He is already the winningest head coach in program history and with win No. 200 is just the seventh coach in Richmond athletic department history to reach that number joining men's basketball coach Chris Mooney and women's tennis coach Mark Wesselink as the only other active Spider coaches with at least 200 wins on his ledger. He also joins Cindy Griffin at Saint Joseph's as the only active A-10 coaches to reach that number at their current institution.
The Spiders were lifted by the return of Lauren Tolson, who missed seven games with a career-threatening knee injury. The graduate student scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds in her return, performing as if she had never left the lineup. She was helped by freshman Jaide Hinds-Clarke, who led the Spiders in scoring (11) for the second time in three games while grabbing nine rebounds, and posting career-highs in blocks (3) and steals (3).
Both Janelle Hubbard and Ragan Wiseman added eight points to the tally while Micaela Parson and Kylie Murphree continue to fill their stat sheets. Parson scored seven points, grabbed four rebounds, handed out a career-high tying eight assists and hauled in three steals. Murphree scored five points, grabbed two rebounds, dished out seven assists and also snagged three steals. It is the second-straight game that both Parson and Murphree each handed out at least five assists. Murphree's seven assists came with zero turnovers, only bettering her already league-best assist-to-turnover ratio.
It took a little while for the scoring to get started in this one but it started with a bang when Janelle Hubbard buried a long corner triple to give the Spiders the first lead. UMass did its best to keep pace but the shots were falling early and often for Richmond. Hubbard scored the first five points but did not score again in the first half. Taisha Murphy knocked in a triple, Karleigh Wike flipped in a hook shot, Hinds-Clarke scored her first points, and it was a total team effort in the first quarter. Richmond held on to a 13-10 advantage at the end.
UMass quickly cut the lead to one when the second quarter began but Wiseman responded with her first points of the game and Parson did the same to quickly push it back to a five-point game. UMass cut it back to one before the Spiders ignited a 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the game. During that run, Tolson scored her first points since suffering a career-threatening injury against La Salle nearly a month ago.
Tolson went on to score five points in the second quarter, and was the co-leading scorer in the first half alongside Hubbard. All nine Spiders that received court time in the first half scored to help build a 28-20 advantage at the break. As a team Richmond shot 43 percent in the first half, carrying over the hot shooting it found at George Mason over the weekend.
Wiseman began the second half with a long three ball off glass to extend the largest lead of the game to 11 points. After a UMass layup to answer Hubbard put her foot on the gas with a triple of her own to immediately make it a 12-point game. The Spiders led by as many as 13 in the third but UMass continued to battle, keeping the Spiders from pulling away late. Parson carried the Spiders down the stretch in the quarter, scoring the last three points after the Minutewomen made it a six-point game to give the home side a nine-point lead with one quarter left to play.
UMass scored first with a pair of free throws to get the final period started. Hinds-Clarke exerted her will on the block and scored to respond. The freshman scored five points and grabbed five rebounds in the fourth quarter, again leading her team to a victory down the stretch for a second-straight game. Wiseman added another three ball as the shot clock buzzer was sounding at the 5:54 mark to make it a seven-point game and once that five-minute mark hit it was all but sealed for one of the best defensive teams in the nation. The Spiders are now 12-0 this season when leading at the final five-minute mark.
The Spiders will take one last road trip before the 2016-17 regular season comes to a close. They'll head to Saint Louis for a date with the Billikens on Saturday night (Feb. 18). Tip will be at 8 p.m. EST.
