By Kyle Soppe
“I realistically would have been happy with 6-4 mark at this point. Learning from winning is much better than learning from losing.”
Coach Michael Schafer isn’t the only one surprised with the upstart Spiders. They defeated Liberty 66-54 for their third straight win, and ninth in 11 contests. Richmond controlled the game early, and despite a furious rally in the games final five minutes their confidence never waivered. Abby Oliver led the way with a season high 23 points and Becca Wann dropped in a career high 14.
Devon Brown, Liberty’s leading scorer with 16 points per game, registered the games first bucket with a driving layup off of a well executed opening game tip. On the Spiders first possession, Oliver caught a skip pass from Keri Soppe at the top of the key, and launched a three that splashed home. It seemed like a typical back and forth start, but the Spiders one upping the vistors would prove to be a theme throughout.
Brown continued to attack the goal, and Richmond could do nothing about it. After she pinned her taller defender in a helpless position, she hauled in a beautiful bounce pass and converted in traffic for the old fashioned three point play. Her 12th point in the early going gave her Flames a 17-15 advantage. Liberty seemed poised to impose their will on the Spiders, and as a top offensive rebounding team in the nation (21 offensive rebounds per game) that would fit their game plan. But the finesse of the Spiders would prove to be to much for the Flames.
Abby Oliver took one right handed dribble, and pulled up for her patented long rang jumper. The bomb resulted in the games final lead change, as Richmond’s senior would not allow her team to lose focus so close to Christmas break. Oliver would go on to score seven consecutive points, concluded by two free throws. However, this was far from one a player show. Following one of the Spiders eight steals, Soppe and Kristina King executed a text book give and go. Soppe took a few quick dribbles, and fired a pass to the wide open King, who took a dribble to keep the defender honest. When she hit Soppe, who had a full head of steam, the Liberty defender could not do anything. Soppe was fouled and after she made the free throw, Richmond had recorded 12 straight points to pull ahead 27-17.
Richmond would then turn to their bench to get them to the locker room. Becca Wann, a reserve guard typically inserted for her energy, caught fire as the Flames defense focused on the high scoring Oliver and Rachel Bilney. Wann didn’t waste much time waiting for the game to come to her, as her aggressive approach changed the tone, and asserted Richmond as Liberty’s superior.
Wann stole the ball and charged down court. When her teammate missed a shot, Wann snared the offensive rebound and took care of the scoring herself. After the impressive bucket, which show cased Wann’s true impact, she decided to increase the difficulty. She stepped behind the arc, and drained a three ball, to give the Spiders a game high 13 point lead. Liberty failed to score again in the half, and Wann concluded a strong half with a layup, putting Richmond up 41-22 at the intermission.
Richmond held Brown to 13 first half points, quite the accomplishment based on how she started. Oliver equaled Brown’s 13, while Wann had seven.
Richmond seemed to be content as the second half begun, and at first, that was enough to maintain. However, a D1 basketball team cannot simply coast to a victory, and Avery Warley did what she could to put a scare into the home team. The 6’3″ forward attacked the Spiders defense much the way that Brown did in the first half; around the rim. An athletic “and 1” ignited a Liberty squad that struggled outside of the paint all night long.
While Oliver was the only Spider scoring consistently, she scored all of Richmond’s points for nearly nine minutes, the Flames rode Warley and Brown. The duo combined for 12 straight points and brought Liberty within six. Half those points came from the charity stripe, as Richmond put the Flames into the double bonus with six minutes to play. The comeback effort, however, would run out of steam.
Rachael Bilney buried a corner three pointer to break the ice cold shooting, and would be enough to send the Spiders home with another W. As teams will soon find out, what these Spiders lack in experience, they more than make up for with their ability to close out games at the free throw line. The nations top free throw shooting team has unmatched confidence from the stripe, and knocked down seven of eight to put out the Flames rally. Oliver, the conferences top shooter (92%), converted her two attempts, and Wann took it from there. By making four of her five free bees, Wann recorded a career high 14 points. While Richmond was adding to their total point by point, Liberty was busy attempting to come back via long ball. They couldn’t find the range (1/18), and with Richmond at the line, the game was all but decided.
Liberty struggled all night from the field, going 18/56 against the stingy Spiders. Brown finished with 17 points and Warley 10, but neither was overly effective outside of individual runs. Oliver led the Spiders with 23 points and a game high three assists, proving to once again be the catalyst of the Richmond attack. Three Spiders (Soppe, Okoro, and Wann) all recorded six rebounds, helping Richmond to stay even on the glass against an elite rebounding team. Liz Brown was predictably efficient (4/6 from the field), and her impact with Okoro being contained cannot be measured by statistics.
No body is calling Richmond perfect, as they still had five more turnovers than assists and shot 19% in the second half, but they continue to win. Hartford travels to the Robins Center (a game that will be covered live by PickinSplinters) for a Thursday showdown just before the teams take a break for the holiday’s.
Leave a Reply