University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Captures Three Major Awards, A-10 Women’s Basketball End of Season Awards Announced
03/05/2024 | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Atlantic 10 Conference announced on Tuesday the 2023-24 End of Season Awards as the Spiders notched three awards in the major categories of Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Woman of the Year, and three players represented on the all-conference teams.
Addie Budnik, a Highland Park, Ill. native, notched Defensive Player of the Year for the Spiders. This is her second major postseason award as she was tabbed A-10 Rookie of the Year in the 2020-21 season. She started and played in all 31 games for the Spiders in her senior campaign. Following the conclusion of the regular season, she pushed her career point total to 1,452, making her the ninth all-time leading scorer in Richmond women's basketball history. She recorded a season-high 21 points at Saint Louis on 1/28/24 and is also the seventh-leading active NCAA D-I player in blocked shots with a career total of 278. She has posted 21 games scoring in double figures and three games with five or more assists. She leads the league in blocks (75), good for ninth nationally, and blocks per game (2.50, 15th nationally).
Rachel Ullstrom, the A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year, saw action in all 31 games for UR. Coming off the bench in each contest, the sophomore is the third leading scorer for the Spiders, averaging 11.9 ppg. She leads the A-10 in three-point percentage (44.5%, 9th nationally). She posted a career-high nine rebounds vs Dayton (1/20/24), a career-high four thefts and two blocks against George Washington on 2/11/24 and also matched a career-high 26 points against UMass on 1/10/24. She has posted four games with 20+ points and had 19 double-digit games.
Head Coach Aaron Roussell was named A-10 Coach of the Year following the conclusion of the regular season. This year, he led Richmond to a 26-5 regular season record with a 16-2 conference record to notch the program's first A-10 regular season title, and the first since the 1990-91 season in the CAA. He has tied the program record for most wins in a season (26) and also slotted himself to No. 4 in all-time wins at Richmond with 90 while reaching 400 career wins this year. His 2023-24 team went undefeated at home for the first time in the NCAA era as well as sitting sixth nationally in blocks per game (5.8), fourth nationally in free throw percentage (80.3%), 11th in three point percentage (37.8%) and 10th in three pointers per game (9.2).
With the End of the Season awards, the Spiders picked up the programs' first Coach of the Year award in the Atlantic 10, and first since Stephanie Gaitley picked up the only other honor in 1989-90 (CAA). Richmond last picked up Sixth Woman of the Year in 2021-22 (Emma Squires) and picked up the first Defensive Player of the Year honor in program history. Maggie Doogan and Grace Townsend were named to the All-Conference First Team, Budnik was named to the All-Conference and the All-Defensive Team while Townsend was also named to the All-Academic team.
Richmond is set for the Atlantic 10 Championship as the No. 1 seed, taking on the winner of Loyola Chicago and Fordham on Friday at 11 a.m. at the Henrico Sports and Event Center.
