Women’s Basketball Falls to 2-10 in A10 Play With Loss at Richmond

By Matthew Brooks (@brooksie1219)

GW Women’s Basketball dropped a Super Bowl Sunday road test against Richmond, 83-61.

The Revolutionaries (9-15, 2-10 A10) started off strong in the first quarter. They kept things close by converting eight points off turnovers and six second chance points, both areas in which they have struggled in conference play. Heading out of the first quarter GW was only down 16-13 to a formidable Richmond offense.

But around midway through the second quarter is when the Spiders (21-4, 11-1 A10) began to pull away. The turnovers piled up to eleven for GW, and Richmond was able to capitalize in transition, forcing GW to call a timeout down 31-18 with 2:48 left in the second quarter. After trading threes back and forth, GW ended the half down 40-26. GW surrendered 24 second quarter points, with Richmond shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Rachel Ullstrom led the surge for Richmond, scoring eight in the second quarter alone, and finished the half with eleven.

“They’re a high powered three point shooting team, we knew that coming in. ” said GW’s third year head coach Caroline McCombs.

“They got loose, they felt good. We’ve got to get high hands on our closeouts, we’ve got to communicate better.”

Despite being down by sizable margins for much of the game, GW just kept clawing on with their offensive rebounds and by drawing some fouls. They were able to capitalize most when Richmond’s star sophomore forward Maggie Doogan was resting on the sidelines with a 7-0 run. Graduate guard Essence Brown absolutely dominated in the third quarter, with ten points on 3-for-6 shooting and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The gap was narrowed to 49-40 with 4:08 left, but after Doogan checked back in, Richmond surged back. The Spiders put up another 24-point quarter, shooting 9-for-12 from the field, and went up 64-47.

GW had a flurry of players who have exceeded their usual offensive contributions. Senior guard Asjah Inniss only averages 5.3 points per game, but finished with eleven on the day. Brown, who averages 9.8, finished with 14. McCombs noted postgame how they were able to get going.

“Every game is a little bit different. [Richmond] was really sucked in, so we have a lot of threes that we took today. They were helping off the corner. Quick pitch or wide open at the three point line… just playing more as a team and letting the open person shoot the ball.”

But while the Revs had some promising stretches of game and looked much better on offense than they have, it ultimately came down to Richmond’s shooting. The Spiders finished the game a whopping 58% from the field, and 13-for-19 (68%) from three. Ullstrom had the game of a lifetime, finishing with 24 points on 9-for-10 shooting, 4-for-4 from three, and four rebounds. 

The Revolutionaries fall to 2-10 in Atlantic 10 play with six games remaining in the regular season. They currently sit 13th in the conference standings, ahead of only St. Bonaventure (4-19, 1-11 A10) and UMass (3-22, 1-12 A10). Their next date is against LaSalle (7-16, 4-8 A10) back at home on Wednesday, February 14th. The game will tip off at 6:00 PM EST and be streamed on ESPN+ and WRGW.