By Kyle Soppe
The Richmond Spiders weren’t supposed to be this good this early. “Youth wins in the future, experience wins now” is what most basketball purists will tell you. But with two freshman starters, and only one senior, the 2011-2012 Spiders are bucking that trend on a weekly basis. Richmond overcame a slow start to lead for most of Thursday’s match up with the ACC’s NC State Wolfpack, winning by a final score of 72-58.
The Spiders showed plenty of resilience in a first half in which their leading scorers were limited by foul trouble. Abby Oliver and Gen Okoro combined for only 19 minutes of action, and had as many turnovers as points (6). Freshman starting point guard Keri Soppe, along with reserve guards Becca Wanna and Kristina King, did more than enough to fill the void.
After the Wolfpack jumped out to a 9-4 lead, the young Spiders began to find their rhythm. Amber Nicolas, born and raised in Raleigh, scored her first bucket of the season in only her second minute of action. After a NC State bucket, Soppe took the inbound and weaved her way to the rim, finishing in traffic with contact. The unconventional three point play led into some sharp Spider shooting, where they cashed in on three consecutive three point attempts.
Amber Battle rained in a long ball after a well executed give and go with Soppe, and sophomore Kristina King knocked down a transition trey. Following a Richmond turnover (one of their 15 in the first half) that led to a Marissa Kastanek layup, the Spiders began to make their move.
King drove to the middle of the paint, pivoted, and found a wide eyed Soppe lining up a straight on three pointer. Soppe took advantage, and gave Richmond a 20-19 advantage. A Krastanek ‘3’ gave the Wolfpack some hope, but that would be their final lead of the contest. Soppe answered back with an aggressive drive, scooping in her eighth point of the half (a new career high) and drawing UR even.
Becca Wann offered a quick spurt with five straight points off of the Spiders bench, and pushed the lead to five by drilling a deep three that was set up by Soppe. With the momentum in favor of the visitor, Okoro made her presence felt on the offensive glass. She converted an errant Spider shot into two points with an athletic board and put back, giving Richmond their largest lead at 32-22.
Bonae Holston poured in four of her 13 first half points in the final two minutes, closing the half time spread to 38-32. Soppe paced the Spiders with 10 points and 3 assists, while Wann and King combined for 12 of Richmond’s 19 bench points.
After a slow first half from leading scorer Abby Oliver and Liz Brown (the A-10’s leader in FG%), the duo picked up where the Spiders reserves left off. Oliver made two free throws on the halves first possession, seemingly gaining confidence when she saw the ball drop through the net. After a drive and kick from Soppe, AO displayed her flawless form with a bomb that tickled the twine. As if to take note from the seniors lead, Brown showed the desire it takes to succeed at a high level. Okoro skied for yet another rebound, and found Brown wide open underneath for the easy bucket. Richmond continued to pound the paint with Brown, leading to another layup. This forced the Wolfpack defense to collapse, opening up Brown for a 16 foot jump shot. With the score standing at 51-38, the Spiders appeared to be in control for their eighth win in 10 games.
As any basketball fan will tell you, teams rarely go quietly at the division 1 level. NC State attempted to claw its way back into the contest by launching three pointers. Myisha Goodwin-Coleman caught the ball on the wing, measured up the distance and canned home a three ball. But the iron proved to be unkind from that point forward, as the Wolfpack missed their next 11 field goal attempts (spanning over 7.5 minutes) and UR took full advantage.
Led by Abby Oliver, who drilled three of her four three point attempts, the Spiders dominated the final quarter of this ball game. Richmond shot 50.9% from the field, as compared to a putrid 31.3% from the Wolfpack. Holston led scorers with 21 points, but it took her 19 shots to do so. Oliver’s explosive second half gave her a team high 17 points. Rachel Bilney and Gen Okoro bounced back in the second half, combining for 13 points and 16 rebounds. But it was Soppe’s career night that proved to be the life blood of UR. She recorded career highs points (12), assists (7), rebounds (6), minutes (31) and assist to turnover ratio (2.0). “She gained her confidence early. We had to adjust our defensive plan in the second half” stated a disappointed Wolfpack Coach Kelly Harper about the Spider freshman.
This Richmond team is getting better with every game, and the Atlantic 10 Conference is going to be a dog fight this year. The Spiders take the court next on Tuesday, when Liberty visits the Robins Center.
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