Townsend Posts Career-High 26 Points, Spiders down Revolutionaries to open A-10 Action

WASHINGTON, D.C – Behind a career-high 26 points from Grace Townsend, the University of Richmond Women's Basketball team opened Atlantic 10 Conference play with a physical 70-66 win over George Washington Saturday afternoon on the road. With the win the Spiders improved to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in A-10 play while the Revolutionaries fell to 7-6 and 0-1 in conference play.

Richmond Starters
Budnik, Doogan, Ryan, Hill, Townsend

How it Happened
Richmond wasted no time on the offensive front as the Spiders opened the game on a 7-2 run from efforts by Siobhan Ryan and Townsend. After a layup from the opposition, Townsend then scored the next four points for an 11-4 Richmond lead. The opposition then went on a 15-0 run to take the lead, 19-11, before Maggie Doogan netted a trey to end the quarter with a slight GW lead, 19-14.

Townsend opened the second 10 minutes with a trey, sparking a 7-0 run to give Richmond back the lead, 21-19. After exchanging a few points, Rachel Ullstrom tied the game at 27 from a triple with 6:36 left on the clock, and Townsend went on a solo 6-0 run for a 33-27 Spider lead. GW again tied the game at 33, but points from Doogan and Townsend would have Richmond ahead, 37-35, at the half.

Doogan and Townsend combined for four points out of the locker room for a 41-35 Spider lead before GW got three free throws off to end the scoring drought. Later, a short 5-0 run from the Spiders gave UR a 50-41 lead with 4:18 left in the quarter. GW then went on a 7-0 run to cut the Spider lead to 50-48, but Katie Hill and Ullstrom would post back-to-back layups to head into the final 10 minutes with Richmond ahead 54-48.

Both teams exchanged buckets to open the final frame as Hill posted four points for a 58-53 Richmond lead. A layup and a trey from the opposition would give GW a 60-59 advantage with 4:38 left in the game, but Doogan and Budnik posted five points to give Richmond back the lead, 64-60. After a layup from Townsend pushed the UR lead to 66-63, Budnik and Ullstrom went 4-6 at the charity stripe before GW got a buzzer-beater bucket off for a 70-66 Spider win.

Inside the Box Score

Townsend paced the team with a career-high 26 points on 10 of 19 from the field, 1 of 4 from deep and a perfect 5 of 5 from the charity stripe. Townsend pushed her career point total to 938, and eclipsed her previous career high of 25 (vs Fordham, 2/23/22)
The Spiders snapped a six-game home win streak for the Revolutionaries.
Two other Spiders, Hill and Doogan also finished the game in double figures as Hill posted 12 points and Doogan recorded 11.
Doogan recorded a team-high six rebounds, while Budnik led the team with four blocks.
As a team, the Spiders shot 26 of 52 (50%) from the field, 5 of 12 (41.7%) from deep and 13 of 16 (81.3%) from the free throw line. In addition, the team recorded 25 rebounds, eight assists, seven blocks, 11 thefts and 18 points off 17 GW turnovers.
The all-time record against GW moved to 29-21 in favor of the Revolutionaries, and the Spiders avenged the conference opener last season where UR fell 65-63 to GW inside the Robins Center on 12/31/22.

Up Next
A-10 action continues for the Spiders on Wednesday, Jan. 3, as the team plays host to in-town rival VCU at 6 p.m. inside the Robins Center before traveling to Saint Joseph's on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. for a meeting with the Hawks.

Calendar

Upcoming Events