Sweeney’s 13 Assists Power Balanced Scoring in Road Win at Dayton

Wednesday, January 14

Dayton, Ohio

7 p.m.

University of Richmond

15-4,5-1Atlantic 10

Dayton

9-8,2-4Atlantic 10

Richmond

Dayton

Photo by: Erik Schelkun

Sweeney’s 13 Assists Power Balanced Scoring in Road Win at Dayton

01/14/2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio – With four Spiders finishing in double figures, and Ally Sweeney posting her first career double-double, the University of Richmond women's basketball team picked up an 85-67 road win at Dayton on Wednesday night. The victory pushed Richmond to 15-4 overall and 5-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play, while the Flyers fell to 9-8 overall and 2-4 in league action.

Richmond Starters
Sweeney, Newell, Ullstrom, Dewey, Doogan

How It Happened
Dayton opened the scoring with a layup, before Rachel Ullstrom answered on the other end with a three pointer. The Flyers briefly regained the lead with another layup, but Ullstrom continued to respond, knocking down a jumper and a trey to give Richmond an 8-4 advantage with 7:29 on the clock. Alicia Newell, back in the starting lineup, followed with two straight jumpers as the Spiders built an eight-point lead. Ally Sweeney then connected from deep for her first points of the night, sparking an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 20-4 in the opening minutes. Richmond began the game shooting a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 from three-point range.

A 6-0 Dayton run trimmed the lead to 10, 20-10, before Maggie Doogan added a free throw to preserve the advantage at 11. Dayton ended its drought with a layup, but Sweeney answered again with a three. After the Flyers added three more points, Sweeney closed the quarter with another trey to give Richmond a 27-15 lead after one.

The Flyers opened the second quarter with a layup to cut the margin to 10, before Doogan went 2-of-2 at the free throw line to rebuild the lead to 12. The teams traded three pointers, followed by a 6-0 Dayton spurt that cut the Richmond lead to six, 32-26. Ullstrom halted the run with a layup at the 3:19 mark, and Doogan followed with a basket of her own as the Spiders pushed the lead back to 10. Each team added a bucket down the stretch, sending Richmond into halftime with a 38-28 advantage.

Sam Dewey knocked down a three out of the break, but Dayton responded with two straight baskets to cut the margin to nine. Dewey answered with another trey, before a brief Dayton run kept the Flyers within striking distance. Newell pushed the lead back to 12 with a layup and a free throw, but a Dayton three and jumper trimmed the deficit to seven. Ullstrom stopped the momentum with a three pointer at the 3:59 mark, giving Richmond a 50-40 lead. After exchanging baskets, Dayton cut the lead to six, 52-46, before Sweeney buried another trey. The Flyers responded with a layup, but Rayne Wright and Sweeney combined for four points late to send Richmond into the final quarter ahead 59-48.

Dayton scored quickly to open the fourth, before Wright connected on her first collegiate three pointer to maintain a 12-point lead. The teams traded baskets as Richmond held a double-digit advantage through most of the frame. Doogan and Newell combined for five points to push the lead to 72-56, but Dayton answered with a jumper. Sweeney then drilled another three to extend the margin to 17, though a 4-0 Flyers run cut it back to 13. Down the stretch, Doogan, Sweeney and Newell combined for six points to close out the 85-67 victory.

Notes on the Game

Rachel Ullstrom led the Spiders with 26 points, recording her 17th career double-figure scoring game and third this season. She added three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
Ally Sweeney posted her first collegiate double-double with 19 points and a career-high 13 assists, surpassing her previous high of nine set earlier this season at Columbia. She also contributed three rebounds and two steals.
Alicia Newell, playing her first game since Jan. 7 vs Fordham, finished with 14 points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Maggie Doogan rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points, a team-high seven rebounds, an assist and a block.
Richmond shot 31-of-54 from the field, 15-of-33 from three point range and 8-of-11 at the free throw line. The 15 made threes tied a season high. The Spiders totaled 26 rebounds, 23 assists, two blocks and six steals, scoring 12 points off 11 Dayton turnovers while adding 32 points in the paint.
Richmond has now won five straight games against Dayton and its second straight road game in the series.
Rayne Wright recorded the first three pointer of her collegiate career, finishing with five points, a rebound and a career-high five assists.
Richmond assisted on 23 of its 31 made field goals.
Sweeney's 13 assists were third most in program history.

From Head Coach Aaron Roussell

"We did a lot of things really well tonight," Roussell said. "We were worried about legs and emotions coming off of Saturday's triple-overtime win but we showed a lot of maturity and grit getting off to a fast start. We made some mistakes defensively and gave up too many offensive rebounds no doubt, which we will have to re-address after making some progress prior. It was a great team effort but Ally and Rachel were both exceptional tonight. Rachel was lights out and Ally just completely controlled the game."

Up Next
Richmond returns home for the Operation: Code Red game, presented by CarMax, against VCU on Jan. 18 at noon inside the Robins Center.

Richmond Athletics has launched Operation: Code Red, an initiative aimed at creating a historic Red Out crowd when the Spiders host VCU. The nationally televised CBS Sports Network matchup aims to bring 5,000 fans together in support of Richmond women's basketball.