Career Effort From Hudalla, Strong Showing from Parson Sisters Not Enough in Loss to Saint Louis, 79-61

Wednesday, January 3

Robins Center

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

6-9 (1-1)

Saint Louis

8-7 (2-0)

Saint Louis

Richmond Spiders

Career Effort From Hudalla, Strong Showing from Parson Sisters Not Enough in Loss to Saint Louis, 79-61

01/03/2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Matt Moretti III (@Moretts13)

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team (6-9, 1-1 Atlantic 10) went blow for blow with Saint Louis (8-7, 2-0 A-10) for most of the game on Wednesday night but a late, fourth quarter surge from the visiting side allowed it to escape with a 79-61 victory, despite another big night from the Parson sisters.

Alex Parson led the charge on offense for the Spiders with 18 points on 6-15 shooting to go with four rebounds and three steals while senior Micaela Parson dropped in 14 points and pulled down eight boards. Alicia Hudalla led the entire game with 11 rebounds, a career-high, and added three points and a steal for good measure in her fourth-straight start. Kailyn Fee was the only other Spider to approach double digits with nine points on 3-9 from long range.

As a team the Spiders managed to shoot just 25 percent from the floor but held reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Jackie Kemph to just two points and 0-6 from the floor. The Spiders matched the Billikens on the boards, 48-48, and forced more turnovers while taking 13 more shots but a late 22-6 run to close the game put this one out of reach.

The first half was a back-and-forth chess match of sorts. Richmond jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with the Parson sisters trading buckets but Saint Louis stormed back to tie the score at seven by the first media timeout. SLU took the lead with a free throw at the 2:10 mark and padded it with a layup on its next possession but Alex Parson scored the final five points of the quarter for the Spiders sandwiched around a SLU triple to make it a one-point game, 15-14, after one.

The Richmond offense struggled to find a rhythm in the second quarter. Alex Parson buried a three ball at the 9:05 mark to give Richmond the lead back but SLU answered with a pair of free throws and didn't look back for the rest of the half. The SLU lead grew as large as seven by the end of the quarter. Micaela Parson cut into it with a layup with 1:09 to go but SLU scored the final field goal of the half to take a seven-point advantage into the locker rooms.

The two sides combined for 64 shot attempts and 30 turnovers in the frantic first half with free throw attempts making up the difference. SLU was 12-14 over the first two quarters while the Spiders were just 2-8.

Richmond chipped away at the deficit early in the third, cutting it to a two-point game, 32-30, following a Fee long ball with 7:34 left. SLU responded with a quick 6-0 run to push it back to eight but the Spiders battled, never letting the lead grow beyond that for the remainder of the frame.

Trailing by seven at the 2:52 mark, Alex Parson canned a pair of free throws followed by a triple in transition from Hudalla that made this one a two-point game. Micaela Parson later added free throws to tie the score at 44 with 2:06 left in the third. The Spiders had mounted a seven-point comeback in just 48 seconds. With the score tied at 46 at the 1:02 mark, SLU knocked in a three ball but Alex Parson responded with a jumper on the other end to leave the deficit at just one with only the fourth quarter left to play.

Fee dropped in her third and final triple of the game with 7:21 to go, cutting the Saint Louis lead to just two, 57-55. From there, the Billikens clamped down and held the Spiders to just six points the rest of the way to run away with the victory. The Spiders had hung with the team picked to finish second in the league during the preseason voting and will look to build on the effort.

The Spiders will welcome La Salle (5-9, 0-2 A-10) to the Robins Center on Saturday night looking to pick up their first home victory of the season. Tip is set for 6 p.m. and will be the last home contest until Jan. 14 when the Spiders welcome Davidson. In between home games, Richmond will head up to Philadelphia for a date with Saint Joseph's on Jan. 10.