Spiders Fall Short At Howard

Tuesday, December 22

Washington, DC

2PM

University of Richmond

3-3

Howard

4-1

Richmond

Howard University

12/22/2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score UR vs. Howard box

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team was outscored 14-3 in the final four minutes to fall short on the road at Howard, 65-54, Tuesday afternoon at Burr Gymnasium. Sophomore Elaina Chapman (Richmond, Va.) and freshman Siobhan Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y.) each posted double-doubles in the loss.

"This was a disappointing one today," head coach Aaron Roussell said. "Give Howard a lot of credit, they took advantage of a lot of our mistakes. I thought we did a good job boxing out and did a lot of good things but going -14 in turnover margin spells bad things. Hopefully, we come back after this break and look a lot closer to what we were to start the season."

The Spiders (3-3, 0-1 A-10) tied the game at 51-51 off a layup from Ryan but Howard retook the lead and never gave it back. Richmond had opportunities to tie but shots didn't fall in the fourth quarter. Howard's Jayla Thornton carried her team with 29 points, five rebounds, two steals and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

Despite a season-high 56 rebounds from Richmond, their most in five seasons, couldn't pull off the road comeback. Four Spiders finished in double-figures with Chapman and freshman Addie Budnik (Highland Park, Ill.) scoring 13 points apiece. Freshman Grace Townsend (Midlothian, Va.) added 10 points off the bench and Ryan had 12 points. Chapman recorded her third career double-double with 11 rebounds and Ryan posted her first double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds. Budnik continues her torrid pace with six blocks against Howard, tied for the third most ever in Richmond history.

UR struggled to keep the basketball with 25 turnovers and had a tough shooting game at 30.8 percent and just 4-for-25 from the three-point line. In the final quarter, Richmond shot 16.7 percent off 3-for-18 from the field.

Townsend kept Richmond close by scoring seven points off the bench to trail by only three points, 30-27, at halftime. Despite only shooting 18.8 percent in the second quarter (3-for-16), the Spiders managed to keep the game close on the road against the Bison. Thornton led all scorers with 12 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line through two quarters.

UR got off to a fast start right off the jump ball as Ryan scored on a layup to make it 2-0, just three seconds into the game. Chapman and junior Kate Klimkiewicz (Oakton, Va.) followed with back-to-back layups to give Richmond a 6-0 lead. Howard got back into the game with a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 8-5. Howard's Kaiya Creek was a spark in the first quarter scoring five-straight points to give her team a 11-10 lead with three minutes on the clock. Budnik tied the game at 13-13 off a layup with 1:06 left in the quarter. Thornton would end the quarter with five-straight points to push Howard ahead 18-15.

In the second quarter, Howard built a 24-18 lead off a layup from Iyanna Warren with 7:31 remaining. Townsend cut the lead to 26-23 with a three-pointer and got Richmond within one point off a layup with 1:20 on the clock. Howard responded with a layup from Kaniyah Harris to make the halftime score 30-27.

Richmond had a solid third quarter outscoring Howard, 19-17, to go into the final quarter down just one at 47-46. The Spiders opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run capped by a Chapman layup to pull ahead 37-32. The Bison answered with a 10-3 run off a three-pointer from Thornton to go back in front 42-40. Senior Alex Parson (North Chesterfield, Va.) made two free throws to get within one at 47-46.

Howard scored the first four points of the fourth quarter and it took over four minutes for Richmond to get on the board off a Ryan layup plus the foul. Only down by five at 56-51, Thornton hit a dagger three-pointer to put the game away with 1:25 remaining.

The Spiders will enjoy a holiday break and return to Atlantic 10 play at St. Bonaventure on Friday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m.

For all the latest information on the team, follow SpiderWBBall on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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