Rams upend Spiders, stay perfect

Improved defense has been a source
of pride and a key to success for the
Rams this season, as well as something
to hang their hat on.

Wednesday evening, defense propelled
VCU despite the team totaling
its second-lowest point output of the
season. The Rams walked away with a
60-51 win over Richmond in the first
game of a men’s and women’s basketball
doubleheader at the Stuart C. Siegel
Center.

“I thought our effort was there, and
I thought we did a lot of good things
on the defensive end of the floor,” head
coach Beth Cunningham said.

Krystal Vaughn (Baltimore/Lake
Clifton-Easton) continued to live up to
her billing as a member of the Pre-season
All-CAA Second Team. The senior led
all scorers with 22 points and also added
six rebounds. She set the tone early for
the Rams, scoring the team’s first seven
points to open up an early three-point
lead.

Junior transfer Radoslava Bachvarova
(Varna, Bulgaria/Daytona Beach C.C.)
chipped in the next four points to stake
VCU to an 11-4 lead and, although the
Rams never trailed, the cross-town Spiders
were able to stay relatively close.

Rival Richmond missed an opportunity
to close the gap soon after. A lull
of nearly six minutes transpired between
baskets by either team late in the first
half and the Spiders trailed by seven at
halftime, 28-21.

Quanitra Hollingsworth (Chesapeake/
Great Bridge) converted her only
free throw attempt of the night halfway
through the second half, which increased
the lead to 50-38 – the Rams’ largest of
the game. Hollingsworth struggled in
her 28 minutes of action. The junior
standout managed just six points and
five rebounds, and the Spiders outworked
the Rams in the paint, outscoring them
28-10.

Aside from Vaughn, every Ram scored
in single digits. Scoring was unbalanced,
but it still produced the win.

“What you want to do is take what
they give you, but I think we’ve got a
lot of different people that can step up
and score,” Cunningham said.

Vaughn closed the game the way
she started it – by scoring the team’s
final five points, including a pair of free
throws with two seconds remaining in
the game.

VCU had 19 turnovers and only 14
assists, identical to Richmond.

“I felt like tonight we were a little
sloppy with the ball. We forced some
things and our turnovers were high,
which I wasn’t pleased about,” Cunningham
said.

VCU improves its record to 6-0 and
has won by an average margin of 22
points. The Rams start the season 6-0
for the second time in as many years.
Last time, though, the team balanced
the hot start with a crippling cold stretch
– losing seven of eight games to start
conference play.

“We are off to a great start, but I feel
like we still a lot of room to improve
… That’s the exciting thing; we’ve been
playing well, but I think that we’ve still
got our best days ahead of us,” said
Cunningham.

VCU will try to extend its winning
streak Saturday against Radford in a 5
p.m. tip-off at the Siegel Center.

—

By the numbers

VCU (6-0): Vaughn 22, Bachvarova 6, Hollingsworth 6, Jones 6, Rorie 2, Waller 9,
Moss 9, Pinkney 0. Totals: 18 19-26 60. 3-pointers: Vaughn 2, Waller 2, Moss.

Richmond (5-5): Holzer 14, Campion 2, Powell 0, Shells 9, McKnight 17, Thomas 0,
Bell 7, Kretchman 0, Flynn 2, Goring 0. Totals: 20 7-13 51. 3-pointers: McKnight 3, Bell.