Spiders Fight, end Season in WNIT Second Round at Rhode Island

Monday, March 20

Kingston, RI

6 p.m.

University of Richmond

21-11,8-6Atlantic 10

Rhode Island

26-6,14-2Atlantic 10

Richmond

Rhode Island

Spiders Fight, end Season in WNIT Second Round at Rhode Island

03/20/2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. – With three lead changes and three Spiders finishing in double figures, the University of Richmond Women's Basketball team battled hard, but ended its season at Rhode Island, 74-64, Monday evening in the WNIT second round.

The Spiders, who ended the 2022-2023 season with the program's first A-10 Championship semifinal appearance since 2009 and the program's first WNIT appearance since 2015, finished with a 21-11 record while the Rams will continue their WNIT run and take on the winner of UMass/Harvard at an improved 26-6.

"We had a good season, borderline a great season," said Head Coach Aaron Roussell. "I think this game really showed the progress we had as a team throughout the season. Eight weeks ago, the last time we were up here, we were a completely different team. We were in a tough spot, staring at 2-4 in the league, and had some really tough sledding as conference play went on. We really flipped the season around and I am very proud of this group."

The Spiders were led by junior Addie Budnik, who recorded 20 points on 6 of 12 from the field, 3 of 7 from deep and a perfect 5 of 5 from the line. Freshman Maggie Doogan chipped in 13 points in the contest while junior Grace Townsend was the final Spider in double figures with 12 points. Budnik and Doogan recorded four rebounds each to lead the team while Townsend had a team-high four dimes and Budnik recorded four blocks. Townsend and freshman Rachel Ullstrom also recorded three thefts each in the contest.

As a team, the Spiders shot 22 of 51 (43.1%) from the field, 6 of 20 (30%) from deep and 14 of 16 (87.5%) from the line. In addition, the team recorded 22 rebounds, including four offensive boards, 11 assists, seven blocks, eight thefts and 18 points off 15 Ram turnovers.

After the Rams opened the game with a mid-range jumper, Budnik evened the game at 2-2 with a pair of free throws. Budnik then gave the Spiders their first lead of the game, 8-6, off a trey with 5:19 left in the quarter. The Rams responded on the offensive, as the team went on a 5-0 run to build a 14-10 lead. Hill ended the quarter with a driving layup to cut the Spider deficit to 17-13 at the break.

Doogan opened the second 10 minutes with a hoop-and-harm to put the Spiders within one, 17-16. Budnik then gave UR another lead, 21-19, with 8:03 left in the half off a trey courtesy of Townsend. Ullstrom followed the play with a pair of free throws to push the Spider lead to 23-19. The Rams scored 15 unanswered points following the Spider rally to build an 11-point lead, 34-23, before graduate Emilija Krista Grava ended the scoring drought with a layup for a 34-25 deficit. Efforts from Doogan and Ullstrom sent the Spiders into the locker room trailing 40-30.

At the half, the Spiders were shooting 10 of 27 (37%) from the field, 4 of 11 (36.4%) from deep and 6 of 7 (85.7%) from the line. In addition, the team recorded 15 rebounds, six assists, four blocks, two thefts and 10 points off five Ram turnovers. Individually, Budnik paced the team with 10 points and two blocks while Doogan chipped in seven points and Ullstrom posted five. Three Spiders, Townsend, sophomore Katie Hill and Doogan each recorded three boards while Townsend led the team with three dimes.

The Spiders opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to cut the Ram lead to 44-39. After a trey from the opposition, Doogan recorded a jumper to bring the score to 47-41 in favor of URI with 6:29 left. A pair of buckets from Grava and Budnik brought the Spiders within 52-45, but the Rams ended the quarter with an 8-0 run to go into the fourth ahead 60-45.

Townsend recorded a layup 46 seconds in before the Rams went on a 5-0 run to build a 65-47 lead. After a few more buckets from URI, the Spiders began to chip away at the deficit from efforts by Townsend, Doogan and Ullstrom to bring the score to 72-61 with 1:06 left in the game. One final trey with 22 seconds left from Budnik ended the game with the Rams on top, 74-64.