March 8, 2009

Final Stats

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Richmond (23-8) erased a 19-point deficit to defeat the Dayton Flyers (20-13) 54-48 to advance to the final round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Spiders face the winner of the Temple/Charlotte game tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN 2.

"I am immensely proud of our girls," said head coach Michael Shafer. "We played hard, had key steals, but most importantly never gave up."

Richmond took its first lead of the game 50-48 after a McKnight lay-up with 1:36 left.

"We came together today," said McKnight. "We helped each other out in the second half and got back to the Richmond way of basketball."

The Spiders struggled early on, as Dayton held a 21-9 advantage at the 7:52 mark in the first half. The Flyers led by as many as 16, before the Spiders cut the deficit to 34-20 on a Brittani Shells jumper to end the half.

"We battled back from what was the seemingly end to our Atlantic 10 tournament play," said Shafer.

Dayton held its largest lead, 41-22 at the 16:16 mark in the second half. The Spiders cut the lead to 12 after a McKnight lay-up at the 13:58 mark. Richmond slowly chipped away at the lead by outscoring the Flyers 13-1 in the next five minutes of play.

Dayton responded by scoring four points in a row to push the lead to 49-40 with 6:25 remaining. A McKnight lay-up cut the lead to 48-46 with 3:07 remaining. The next possession resulted in a Brittani Shells steal and jumper to knot the game at 48 all. After the McKnight jumper pushed the Spiders ahead 50-48, Shells sealed the win with two free-throws with 19 seconds remaining.

"Coach keeps telling us this game is 40 minutes long," said Shells. "He told us to not give up. We didn't. We worked so hard for this win."

The 19-point disadvantage was the largest deficit Richmond has overcome this season. With the win, Richmond appears in its first ever A-10 Championship game.

"I am so excited about the opportunity for the first A-10 Championship for Richmond women's basketball," said Shafer.

Tip is slated for 5:00 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN 2.