Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

ATHENS, Ga. - It was a homecoming for Richmond head coach Michael Shafer as his Spiders fell to no. 10 Georgia, 81-53.

"Coming back to Athens is bittersweet. It was good to see everyone, but now we have some to work to do for Sunday." Shafer said about returning to his hometown.

Ashley Houts scored 17 points and the Lady Bulldogs used a big run starting the second half to win its season opener, 81-53 over Richmond on Friday night.

Georgia, which led 35-23 at halftime, stretched the advantage to 32 points with a 25-4 run in the first 9 minutes of the second half.

Houts, a point guard who was the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year last season, added nine rebounds, five steals and four assists. Houts is one of three returning starters for Georgia, coming off its fifth straight NCAA Sweet 16 season.

"We played hard, we didn't get a lot of shots off which didn't help," redshirt senior Christina Campion commented on her team's performance, "it was our first game of the season against a nationally ranked team, we are able to take away a lot from the experience."

Though she spent most of her freshman season setting up other scorers, Houts had 11 points in the first half and added a 3-point shot and three-point play to help Georgia pull away early in the second half.

Tasha Humphrey, a third-team All-America each of the last two years, had 13 points and nine rebounds for Georgia. Freshman Jasmine Lee had 11 points and nine rebounds. Another freshman, Angela Puleo, had nine on three 3-pointers.

Freshman guard Brittani Shells led Richmond with 13 points. Katie Holzer added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Richmond shot only 27 percent (17 of 63) from the field.

Georgia beat Richmond 72-41 at Richmond last year. The Spiders are coached by Michael Shafer, who for 11 years was an assistant for Andy Landers at Georgia.

The Spiders travel to Kennesaw, Ga. to face off against the Kennesaw State Owls Sunday, November 11, at 2 p.m. ET.