Spiders Downed by Explorers on the Road

Sunday, January 23

Philadelphia, PA

2 p.m.

University of Richmond

12-7,3-3Atlantic 10

La Salle

11-6,4-1Atlantic 10

Richmond

La Salle

01/23/2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team dropped a road contest to La Salle Sunday afternoon, 77-57. Richmond falls to 12-7 overall, 3-3 in Atlantic 10 play while La Salle improves to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

"We kind of got kicked around in just about every facet today. We struggled offensively. We didn't finish well, and I just didn't think we shared the ball very well either. Combine that with a hot shooting day from La Salle, and it left us with an experience that we can hopefully learn from today," said head coach Aaron Roussell. "We seem to find lulls when we don't shoot well early. We are a good team that can win on bad shooting nights, but we need to improve in some areas to be able to do that consistently."

Kate Klimkiewicz got the Spiders on the board first in Richmond's first possession of the game when she snagged a rebound on the defensive end and drove it all the way in for a layup at 9:35. She added a triple just over a minute later to make it 5-3 Richmond, but that is the last time the Spiders would hold a lead the rest of the game. The first quarter went back-and-forth with three ties, but after a layup from Addie Budnik at 5:36, the Spiders went cold from the field the rest of the frame. La Salle outscored Richmond 11-4 in the last 5:22 of the period to hold a 20-13 lead at the end of the first.

Claire Holt used a strong box out on the defensive end to snag a rebound and set Siobhan Ryan up for a triple to open up the second period, but La Salle responded with a quick 7-0 run to push its lead to 27-16 at 7:38. The Spiders hit back-to-back layups midway through the frame, and Budnik's put-back cut Richmond's deficit to eight points at 2:07, but the Spiders trailed 34-24 at the half.

The Explorers opened the third with a pair of quick baskets and added a 3-pointer at 8:34 to extend the lead to 42-25. Budnik knocked down a three at 7:25, but La Salle negated that with another triple of its own a half minute later. La Salle hit a last-second jumper in the paint to lead 59-43 heading into the final frame.

Townsend hit back-to-back baskets early in the fourth, and Holt put up a pair of buckets and free throws in the back half of the fourth quarter. Sydney Boone closed out the scoring in the game with a fastbreak jumper with 2:02 to go.

Notables

La Salle outshot Richmond 46.2 percent to 36.5 percent in the game. The Spiders are 1-5 when shooting 40 percent or below this season, and 11-2 when shooting 41 percent or better.
The Spiders were 5-of-20 beyond the arc on the day compared to La Salle's 12-of-27. Richmond is 0-5 when making seven 3-pointers or less, and 12-2 when making nine 3-pointers or more (one of those two losses was the overtime loss to UMass).
Kate Klimkiewicz led the Spiders in scoring and on the glass in the game with 15 points and seven boards. She added an assist, steal, and block.
Grace Townsend also pulled down a tied team-high seven rebounds and was the only other Spider in double-figures with 14 points.
Addie Budnik posted four blocks and swiped two passes alongside nine points and four rebounds.
Claire Holt put in solid minutes with a season-high five rebounds in addition to six points, a steal, and an assist.