Women’s Basketball off to best start since 2015

Women’s Basketball headed up I-95 to score a victory against the Georgetown Hoyas on Dec. 2 The game comes after a Nov. 28 win by the Rams at home against UNC-Wilmington.

Georgetown

The Rams fought hard to manage a 47-45 win over the 5-3 Hoyas.

Sophomore guard Taya Robinson led VCU in points and rebounds with nine of each. Guards Dionna White and Dorothy Adomako put up 14 points apiece for the Hoyas.

With the game tied at 36 with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Rams fought hard.

Back-and-forth jump shots from both sides brought the game back to a tie at 41 with less than three minutes to go. The Rams stepped ahead with a Robinson layup, bringing the score to 44-41 after making a foul shot.

The Hoyas made a foul shot, but a put-back layup by junior center Danielle Hammond marked the turning point of the final minutes. While the Rams felt a sense of relief, the Hoyas’ White had other plans as she banked a three-point shot.

The Rams — up two with less than 20 seconds left — took a timeout to set up for a last-ditch effort from Georgetown. Junior guard Nyra Williams missed a free throw and Hoyas guard Mikayla Venson set up for a buzzer-beating three-point shot, but missed, denying the Hoyas the lead and the game.

One of the most telling parts of this game was Georgetown’s previous wins over Atlantic 10 conference teams, Richmond and Fordham, both by a 20-point margin. This gave the Rams an idea of what they might expect when getting into the conference schedule.

UNC-Wilmington

VCU hosted its third home game against UNC-Wilmington, using defensive prowess and consistent scoring to fly ahead of the Seahawks, 58-47.

The Rams and UNC-Wilmington remained neck-and-neck the majority of the game with a tie at 26 midway through the third quarter. Robinson, freshman forward Kseniya Malashka and junior guard Jailyn Maddox led the Rams in scoring with 10 points each.

The real story of this matchup was the Black and Gold defense — 10 blocks and 51 rebounds allowed the Rams to break away from the Seahawks, regardless of a high turnover total of 18 by VCU.

VCU only allowed a 25.4 shooting percentage from UNC-Wilmington. The Rams shot 40 percent from inside the arc and 20 percent beyond.

Hammond had one of her best games thus far, coming off the bench and recording nine points and nine rebounds.

In the third quarter, a Robinson jump shot put VCU up by two and started a 16-3 run. Jump shots and layups flowed in from the Rams in the third and fourth quarter while the defense did not allow much more than free throws for the rest of the game from UNC-Wilmington.

“Our depth is one of the things that keeps proving over and over again,” coach Beth O’Boyle said at the post-game press conference. “We have so many players that can come off the bench and get you an offensive rebound, play some defense and give us some points.”

The Rams had 32 points come from four players off the bench. The 59-47 win over UNC-Wilmington brought the Rams to 6-2 on the season.

Women’s Basketball stays on the road to face the Cincinnati Bearcats Dec. 7. VCU will also play its out-of-conference rival Old Dominion Dec. 16 in Norfolk.

Daniel Puryear Contributing Writer