Spiders Break Record for Most wins in a Season, Pick up A-10 Championship Quarterfinal win over No. 8 Loyola Chicago Friday Morning

Friday, March 8

Henrico, Va.

11 a.m.

University of Richmond

27-5,16-2Atlantic 10

Loyola Chicago

15-16,8-10Atlantic 10

Loyola Chicago

Richmond

Spiders Break Record for Most wins in a Season, Pick up A-10 Championship Quarterfinal win over No. 8 Loyola Chicago Friday Morning

03/08/2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

HENRICO, Va. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team proved Friday morning why they are the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship quarterfinal, picking up a dominate 70-54 win over No. 8 Loyola Chicago. With the win, the Spiders broke the program record for the most wins in a season and improved to 27-5 overall, while the Ramblers end their season at 15-16. In addition, UR clinched a spot in the A-10 Championship semifinals and will take on the winner of No. 4 George Mason or No.5 Duquesne on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Richmond Starters
Budnik, Doogan, Ryan, Hill, Townsend

How it Happened
The Spiders wasted no time setting the tone of the game as Richmond opened the first quarter on a 12-0 run. Siobhan Ryan, Katie Hill, Maggie Doogan and Grace Townsend all got on the score sheet in the first three minutes. After a couple of buckets from Loyola Chicago, Doogan posted a layup for a 14-4 lead and Rachel Ullstrom followed the play with a layup of her own. Budnik then posted back-to-back buckets to push the lead to 20-5 with 1:55 left in the opening frame. LUC ended the first quarter posting four points as the Spiders led 20-9 going into the second.

Richmond didn't pump the breaks out of the quarter break as Ryan, Townsend and Budnik put UR ahead 26-11. After a couple of points from the opposition, a trey from Ullstrom would push the lead to 31-16 with 6:21 left in the half. Following a trey from Kylee Lewandowski, her first points of the game, Budnik was fouled beyond the arc and posted three-straight free throws. Townsend then recorded a layup and a free throw to push the lead to 40-18. A final triple from Ullstrom would send UR into the locker room ahead 43-22.

Hill and Budnik combined for five points to open the third quarter. Townsend then gave UR a 50-25 lead with a layup. The Ramblers were then able to scratch back at the deficit, 50-30, but a layup from Hill and a triple from Budnik pushed the lead back to 54-30. The Ramblers were able to get two back-to-back layups off to end the third quarter with Richmond ahead, 54-34.

Doogan posted a layup to open the fourth quarter before LUC was able to scratch back at the lead, cutting the deficit to 56-42. following an 8-0 run. Doogan ended the scoring drought with back-to-back buckets, and Hill followed the play with a triple for a 63-44 Spider advantage. Laren VanArsdale and Hill rebuilt the UR lead to 20, 69-49 as. Ryan was able to get the final point off for Richmond from a free throw for 70-54 Spider win and a spot in the semifinals.

Inside the Box Score

Richmond outscored the Ramblers 20-9 in the first quarter and 23-13 in the second frame.
Following the win, the Spiders have broken the record for the most wins in a season, previously held by the 1990-91 team (26).
Richmond clinched a spot in the A-10 quarterfinals for the second-straight year, as the team took on No. 1-seeded UMass in the quarterfinal game in 2022-23.
Richmond was paced by Budnik, who recorded 18 points on 5 of 7 from the field and 3 of 5 from deep.
Two other Spiders, Doogan (13) and Hill (10) also finished the game in double figures. Ullstrom led the team with seven rebounds, while Townsend posted nine assists.
As a team, the Spiders shot 25 of 47 (53.2%) from the field, 9 of 23 (39.1%) from deep and 11 of 15 (73.3%) from the free throw line. The team also posted 33 total rebounds, 20 assists, six blocks and 12 points off 13 Rambler turnovers.