Sports In Brief

Men’s Basketball

Pirates 26 25 – 51
Rams 38 36 – 74

VCU, led by senior guard Jesse Pellot-Rosa’s career-high 20 points, beat Hampton University, 74-51, Saturday night in the Rams’ home opener at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

The Rams (3-2), who were held scoreless through the first four minutes of the game, went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to take an early 10-4 advantage.

Hampton fought back and pulled within two points with eight minutes remaining but VCU closed the half with a 16-6 run.

The Rams began the second half with a 17-5 run, pushing their lead to 24 points.

“I’m very pleased with the energy we came out with on the defensive end,” said VCU head coach Anthony Grant. “We limited the opportunities for them. Coming in, they were averaging 28 three-point attempts per game. The key with the press was not to give up 3’s. We put together two good halves. We have to improve offensively. We did a good job in maintaining our focus for the full game.”

Sophomore guard Eric Maynor finished with a season-high 17 points for the Rams, while senior guard B.A. Walker and junior forward Wil Fameni added 14 points and 12 points, respectively.

Rockets 29 31 – 60
Rams 21 38 – 59

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands – For the fourth time this season, VCU had at least four players score in double figures, but fell to Toledo 60-59 victory in the third round of the Paradise Jam.

The Rams had 32 rebounds, 11 turnovers, eight steals and 20 fouls.

“I thought Toledo came out tonight and showed more aggression and passion early in the game,” said VCU head coach Anthony Grant.

“We showed the marks of a young basketball team. We still need to understand that we have to play for 40 minutes. We are showing signs of becoming a team that can do that. I hope we will be able to learn from this experience.”

The rams finished 1-2 in the tournament.

Rams 28 43 – 71
Cougars 30 29 – 59

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands – Senior guard B.A. Walker became VCU’s career three-point leader and the 25th 1,000-point scorer as the Rams beat Charleston 71-59 in the second round of the Paradise Jam.

Charleston led through most of the first half. VCU had its first lead of the game with six minutes left in the period, but the Cougars pushed ended the half with a 30-28 advantage.

“Our effort was great tonight,” said senior guard Jesse Pellot-Rosa. “In the second half, we picked up our defensive intensity. We knocked down some shots in the second half. We rebounded better tonight.”

Pellot-Rosa led the Rams with 18 points. Junior forward Wil Fameni and sophomore guard Eric Maynor each had 12 points for VCU. Walker finished with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds.

“It was a hard-fought game at both ends,” said Walker. “Charleston fought hard throughout the game. We stuck together and were the better team tonight.”

Women’s Basketball

Pirates 31 42 – 73
Rams 38 40 – 78

Junior forward Krystal Vaughn erupted for 24 points and seven rebounds as VCU held off East Carolina, 78-73, and moved to 5-0 for the first time in program history Friday night at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

Vaughn, who missed her career high point total by one, dropped 9-of-16 shots from the floor, and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Freshman forward D’Andra Mossadded a career-high 17 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore center Quanitra Hollingsworth had 13 points.

The Rams never trailed after halftime and led by as many as nine points in the second half, but East Carolina didn’t give up without a fight.

VCU shot a season-high 49 percent (27-of-55) from the field in the game, including 52 percent (12-of-23) in the second half. They forced 23 turnovers.

Great Danes 19 36 – 55
Rams 39 28 – 67

Sophomore center Quanitra Hollingsworth had a game-high 22 points on the way to a 67-55 VCU win against Albany Tuesday at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

The Rams built a 39-19 halftime lead behind suffocating pressure defense. VCU forced 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and limited Albany to just eight field goals on 29 attempts.

Junior forward Krystal Vaughn added 16 points and senior guard Michele Cosel had 11 points four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Volleyball

Rams 26 22 28 – – 0
Broncos 30 30 30 – – 3

Rams 30 29 24 22 – 1
Anteaters 26 31 30 30 – 3

LONG BEACH, Calif. – VCU sophomore setter Cat Juson had a total of 77 assists in two Saturday matches, establishing a new school single-season record of 1,390. The Rams dropped both matches.

Juson set the record in VCU’s first match of the day with 32 assists in a 3-0 loss to the Western Michigan. She surpassed Suzanne Dawson’s mark of 1,314 assists, established in 1995.

Senior Ludmila Francescatto added 12 kills against the Broncos.

Later, Juson had 45 more assists against UC Irvine, which beat VCU 3-1.

Francescatto had 16 kills against the Anteaters, while Rams’ sophomore Elisa Kuehnel led VCU with 18 kills.

Rams 16 21 18 – – 0
49ers 30 30 30 – – 3

LONG BEACH, Calif. – VCU senior outside hitter Ludmila Francescatto had 11 kills and broke the school’s 16-year-old single-season record, but Long Beach State won 3-0 Friday at the Walter Pyramid.

VCU slipped to 16-16 this season. LBSU, listed 26th in the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, improved to 23-5.

Senior middle blocker Melissa Peterson had 10 kills and six blocks.