By Kyle Soppe
With the Richmond Spiders riding a five game win streak and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks the champion of the past three Christmas City Classic’s, this was as highly anticipated as any non conference game. The two teams did not disappoint in the early going, with the young Spiders being led by their lone senior and the Hawks being guided by their most involved freshmen.
In stark contrast to last night, Abby Oliver wasted no time in finding her stroke. The senior captain buried a straight on triple to open the scoring for her Spiders, a shot that looked pure from the moment it left her right hand. Although her scoring touch appeared to be back, she continued to distribute in an effective manner. A sharp chest passing to a cutting Gen Okoro led to an easy bucket, and her hustle resulted in another lay up. She sprawled for a loose ball and, all in one motion, advanced the ball to a streaking Becca Wann who converted at the rim after two soft dribbles.
But the Spiders could not distance themselves, as Katie O’Reily took on the scoring role as Richmond focused on the Hawks leading scorers (Alexa Williams and Emily Gratch). O’Reily, who averages just under seven points per game, recorded eight of the Hawks first 18 points. The last of her buckets, a right handed runner that smoothly kissed off of the window, drew the home team to within a point, 19-18.
Back to back trifecta from Aly Byorick, and Lehigh was threatening to pull away. However, on the season, the Hawks aren’t a superior team from the perimeter, and the lead was indeed short lived. Statistically speaking, Richmond is the better shooting team, a fact that rang true after the visitors fell behind 26-21.
Super sub Wann once again kick started a Spiders surge, cashing in on a good find from Keri Soppe underneath. Following one of her eight first half boards, Wann distributed the ball to Bilney and sprinted down the court. She was spotted cutting, and banked home an off balance floater. Her aggression at the offensive end continued to lead to good things, as the Hawks collapsed on her and Liz Brown capitalized with a mid range jumper. Another picturesque pull up from Oliver, in which she jabbed right and took one quick lefty dribble, and the Spiders had turned a five point hole into a five point cushion in the blink of an eye. They increased their lead on a driving left handed scoop from Soppe, and held a 37-29 advantage at intermission.
The second half started exactly how the first 20 minutes ended, with a drive by Soppe to the left hand side. Fellow frosh Liz Brown would then find her comfort zone and give the Spiders some breathing room. A standard put back got the 6’3″ Center confident, and then she surprised everyone by displaying pinpoint accuracy from long rang. Brown calmly caught the ball at the top of the key, set her feet, and connected on her first career three pointer. Once the ball swished threw the net, it was clear that Richmond was well on its way.
With the Spiders sensing blood in the water, Oliver took it upon herself to dash the hopes of the Hawks. She excelled in open court: “guarding people in transition is so hard. I’ve worked hard all off season on perfecting my fast break game, because I don’t want to be labeled as only a three point shooter.” . After burying a mid range jumper, she found a way to finish in traffic, despite being hammered. She crashed to the hoops support, and flashed a smile that let everyone know that her squad had the game in hand.
Oliver and Bilney worked a textbook give and go, which resulted in an uncontested layup for the Richmond senior. The long range artist took her act behind the arc after knocking down yet another pull up jump shot in transition. Bilney drove to the left side of the paint, and fired a one handed pass to a salivating Oliver. One more time the shot traveled threw the air with perfect rotation, and splashed into the net. The outburst resulted in 12 straight tallies for Oliver, and a convincing 59-40 lead.
Richmond would not take their foot off of the pedal and cruised to a 71-49 victory. Oliver led the way with a game-high 21 points and Soppe poured in 11 points on 5/7 shooting. Becca Wann continued her string of great games with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Lost in all of the scoring was the solid effort turned in by the Spiders defense. They held Lehigh seven points below their season scoring average and 26.7% (16/60) shooting from the field. Not to mention that the Hawks had less field goals (16) than turnovers (24), a near impossible difference to overcome.
Abby Oliver, who overtook Seth Curry for the top FT% in all of division 1 basketball, was recognized as an All Tournament member, while sophomore Becca Wann (very deserving) was tabbed as the tourneys Most Valuable Player.
The Spiders will host the Owls of Temple to bring in the new year, with a 7:00 tip on Saturday January 7. Richmond is tied with St. Bonaventure atop the A-10 with a 12-2 mark, but the slates are wiped clean as conference plays starts up. Coach Shafer summed it up perfectly: “I would love nothing more than to open conference play with a win. Temple is athletic, and I’m glad we are going into that game with confidence.”
Leave a Reply