Senior forward Krystal Vaughn (Baltimore/
Lake Clifton-Eastern) didn’t want to
lose on senior day.
“I don’t think anyone wants to lose a
game on senior day,” she said.
Thanks to a suffocating defense and good
rotation on offense, the seniors were able
to go out in style with a 55-33 win over
Delaware Sunday afternoon at the Stuart
C. Siegel Center.
The win gave the Rams a school-record
22 wins.
“We had an outstanding effort on both
ends of the floor,” VCU head coach Beth
Cunningham said. “We wanted to make
sure these four seniors went out on a high
note.”
The four seniors – Vaughn, Brittany
Pinkney (Clinton, Md./The Patterson
School), Vera Chistova (St. Petersburg,
Russia/St. Petersburg) and LaKea Jones
(Fort Washington, Md./National Christian
Academy) all started the game alongside
sophomore Kita Waller (Gainesville,
Ga./Gainesville).
The game was never close, and the Rams used an
early run to put things away early. After a Delaware
basket by Sha’Ron Harrison cut the VCU lead to 7-4
with 15:29 remaining in the first half, the Rams went
on a 17-0 run, capped by a Waller 3-pointer to make
the score 24-4 with 5:25 until halftime. The Blue Hens
were able to outscore VCU 8-6 the rest of the half and
went into the break trailing 30-12.
The Rams kept the pressure on in the second half
and went on a 16-4 run during the first eight minutes to
take a 26-point, 42-16 lead, the biggest of the game.
VCU forced 22 turnovers while allowing only 14 field
goals, a statistic that pleased Cunningham. However,
she still saw room for improvement.
“To be honest, I was a little disappointed because
I felt a lot of the baskets we gave them came off of
offensive rebounds,” she said.
The Rams countered their defensive efforts with
solid offense, dishing out 15 assists on 20 made field
goals.
“We’re a very good basketball team when we make
the extra pass and move the basketball,” Cunningham
said.
Sophomore La’Tavia Rorie (Charlotte, N.C./Harding
University) led all scorers with 13 points and also
grabbed eight rebounds. Vaughn scored 12 points and
grabbed seven rebounds. Kyle DeHaven, Delaware’s
leading scorer (11.0 ppg) was held to only 2 points
and was forced into seven turnovers.
“DeHaven has proven the last couple years to be
one of the best guards in the conference and we did a
great job on her all night,” Cunningham said.
The Rams are back in action on Thursday in the final
game of the regular season at William and Mary.