By Kyle Soppe
The Richmond Spiders are here to stay, as they rolled to a win on Monday night. Win-less ETSU kept things close early, but this was Richmond’s game from the beginning. Richmond saw 10 players score and used suffocating defense to frustrate the struggling Buc’s front court.
The Spiders came out firing, and led for 95% of the first half. After Natalie Pickwell swished home a floater, giving the Buc’s a 2-1 lead, the Spiders controlled the games first 20 minutes. Freshman Liz Brown drained a deep jumper to put Richmond ahead 4-2 in a low scoring first five minutes. Both defenses were aggressive, which resulted in many turnovers, but also 10 fouls in the early going.
After a sluggish start, the Richmond offense began rolling, thanks in large part to some sharp shooting from Rachel Bilney. The redshirt junior, a 46% shooter from behind the arc this season, rained in a three to extend the lead to 11-5. The teams traded buckets until Bilney nailed a deep two pointer, capitalizing on one of ETSU’s 15 first half turnovers. Bilney then found a wide open Brown, who showed her versatility by stepping out and knocking down a mid-range jumper, to give the Spiders a double-digit advantage.
The next six points all went to the home team, highlighted by a Keri Soppe floater and another pull up jump shot from Bilney. Destiny Mitchell, an A-Sun preseason all-conference pick, responded with a layup, but the Spiders would answer right back with picture perfect execution. While in transition, Sam Bileny found Abby Oliver with a beautiful pass in traffic. The senior guard finished amidst contact, and earned a three point play for her efforts. When the first 20 minutes concluded, Richmond led in all of the statistical categories, and carried a 35-19 lead in to the locker rooms.
The Spiders had nine assists compared to ETSU’s single helper, and had six steals on the Buc’s 15 turnovers.
Richmond came into the second half on a mission, and would not be denied from putting Sunday’s loss in the rear view mirror. Gen Okoro’s aggression on the glass (12 rebounds) set the tone, as Richmond physically dominated the Buc’s from Eastern Tennessee. Miah Register opened the second half with a few nice assists, something the Spiders did well all night long. But it was the defensive intensity that allowed the Spiders to pull away for their fifth win in the season’s first six games.
The Richmond attack was fueled by turnovers, and the fast breaks that so often followed. Amber Battle and Kristina King knocked down three of their four treys, and the Spider offense would not slow down. When all was said and done, UR converted 24 turnovers into 21 points, resulting in a convincing 66-39 victory.
The Buc’s were held to a season low in points, 14 less than the previous low of the 53 points they recorded against Manhattan. The defense also held ETSU to 23% shooting from the field (14/61), as compared to Richmond’s 40.3% (25/62).
The second half domination was aided by strong passing, as the Spiders recorded 18 assists on 25 buckets. Rachael Bilney and Soppe led the way with four apiece, and the duo only committed two turnovers. The generous Spiders distributed the ball well, as eight players recorded at least two made field goals.
Richmond will battle in state rival VCU Thursday night, in what figures to be a hotly-contested game. “VCU is going to be a challenge. We have to step up our game, and come to play” stated a content coach Shafer in a post game interview.
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