RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond Spiders women's basketball team defeated the Massachusetts Minutewomen, 67-63, in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.
With the victory, Richmond improves its record on the season to 18-12 overall and advances to face No. 4-seeded Fordham on Friday at 2 p.m.
“I think Janelle Hubbard, Genevieve Okoro and Lauren Tolson really answered the call, particularly in the second half,” Richmond head coach Michael Shafer said following the victory. “We had some really good play from some of our role players – kids really made some plays for us. But I'm just really proud of our ability to withstand a team (UMass) that was on a mission.”
Junior Lauren Tolson scored a career-high 22 points to lead the way for the Spiders, while sophomore Janelle Hubbard netted 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting for Richmond. Senior Genevieve Okoro added 12 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.
Despite playing just a day earlier, UMass came out of the gates and took an early lead over the Spiders, pushing the advantage to seven, 21-14. Richmond responded in a big way, however, outscoring the Minutewomen 11-4 over the final 4:34 of the first half to take a 25-23 in the locker room at the break.
In the first half, Hubbard led the team with seven points, while Tolson and Okoro each chipped in five in the game's first 20 minutes. The Richmond defense was great in the first half, limiting UMass to just 9-of-30 shooting, while forcing six turnovers.
At the start of the second half, the game turned into a back-and-forth affair, with the teams exchanging the lead eight times.
With 7:47 left in the game, Richmond took the lead for good on a Hubbard layup, 46-44. The Spiders then reeled off a 10-3 run over the next 2:41 second to seize control of the game.
With just over a minute remaining and the Minutewomen threatening to cut in to the lead, freshman Kylie Murphree came up with a huge steal that lead to a layup for classmate Micaela Parson, pushing the UR advantage to 58-51.
Massachusetts extended the game with great shooting and fouling in the final 90 seconds, but Tolson did a great job at the free throw line for the Spiders, hitting 8-of-10 attempts to seal the victory for the Spiders.
The No. 5-seeded Richmond Spiders will look to advance to the Atlantic 10 Tournament Semifinals for the first time since 2009 when the team faces the No. 4-seeded Fordham Rams on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Richmond Coliseum.
For all the latest on the Richmond women's basketball team, be sure to follow the team on Twitter - @RichmondWBBall and “Like” the team's Facebook page.
