Spiders Hold Off La Salle, 67-61 On Senior Day

Saturday, February 20

Robins Center

NOON

University of Richmond

12-6,9-4Atlantic 10

La Salle

10-12,6-9Atlantic 10

La Salle

Richmond

02/20/2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team held off a fourth quarter rally from La Salle making clutch free throws to earn a 67-61 Senior Day win Saturday afternoon at the Robins Center. The Spiders finished 12-for-16 at the free throw line, including a perfect 6-for-6 to finish the game.

UR improved to 12-6 overall and is 9-4 in Atlantic 10 play with back-to-back home wins against Saint Joseph's and La Salle. Richmond has two road games remaining at Rhode Island and UMass next weekend. The Spiders outrebounded La Salle 48-36 and is 8-0 in league play when they win the rebounding battle.

"A crazy finish there," head coach Aaron Roussell said. "Credit to La Salle, I thought we were living dangerously. A credit to our players being thrown a different challenge. Our players have answered every challenge this season and I am really proud of these last 48 hours."

Junior Kate Klimkiewicz (Oakton, Va.) led the team with 14 points, six rebounds and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Freshman Addie Budnik (Highland Park, Ill.) added 12 points and was 6-for-10 from the field. The Spiders got a lot of contributions from the bench with 22 points from the reserves. Junior Emma Squires (Kingston, Mass.) finished with 10 points and freshman Kylee Lewandowski (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished with five points. Freshman Grace Townsend (Midlothian, Va.) had three points, three assists and a steal.

In the final minutes, UR was leading 56-45 before La Salle started to make a charge with three-point shooting. The Explorers went on an 8-0 run with two three-pointers from Molly Masciantonio to cut the lead to 56-53. Parson would drill a clutch three-pointer with 1:10 on the clock but La Salle answered with a three-pointer from Deja King. With 33 seconds left, Budnik pushed the lead back to 61-56 off a layup inside. La Salle got within three points at 61-58 but Richmond wouldn't miss any free throws down the stretch going 6-for-6 to close it out. La Salle outscored the Spiders, 25-21 in the final period and hit 5-for-11 from the three-point line to make the game close.

UR increased their lead in the third quarter after outscoring La Salle, 14-13. Klimkiewicz finished with five points in the third quarter. Klimkiewicz hit a three-pointer to push the advantage to 38-23 with 7:50 remaining in the quarter. The Explorers hit a couple of three-pointers from King and Kayla Spruill to get within 40-29. Budnik scored with under a minute left in the quarter to make the score 46-34. La Salle got within 10 points after a layup from Masciantonio.

The Spiders earned a 32-23 halftime lead after a strong second quarter outscoring La Salle, 18-11. Squires led all scorers with 10 points off the bench going 4-for-6 from the field. UR shot 12-for-30 in the first half but outrebounded La Salle 25-18.

Senior Kailyn Fee (Vienna, Va.) hit a three-pointer to open the game. The first quarter went back and forth but Squires made back-to-back layups in the final two minutes to give the Spiders a 14-12 lead after one quarter.

Richmond will finish the regular season with two road games starting at Rhode Island on Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.

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

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