Nov. 28, 2008

Final Stats

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Sophomore Brittani Shells scored a season-high 19 points to lead Richmond (5-0) past Troy University (2-2) Friday night in the first round of the Double Tree Classic. The Spiders will face the winner of the Akron/Chattanooga game tomorrow night.

The score was knotted 23-23 at the break, with the Spiders being paced by Shells' eight points. After Shells opened the half with a three-pointer at the 19:22 mark, the Spiders never lost the lead.

"We needed a game like this," said head coach Michael Shafer. "We need to work through some mistakes. I would've liked us to execute better, but we will learn from this and correct our poor decisions."

Senior Johanna McKnight and junior Danielle Bell also scored in double-figures at 12 and 11 points respectively.

"We played with a lot of energy at first," said Shells. "We kind lost focus near the end of the game, and that's something we will need to work on for tomorrow."

Troy edged the Spiders on the boards by a 39-37 margin.

"Troy forced us to shoot outside shots," said Shafer. "They did a good job at pushing us away from the basket."

Senior Kylie Morrissy and sophomore Donette McNair led the Trojans with 15 points apiece.

The Spiders return to action tomorrow night, where they will Chattanooga in the championship game. Tip-off is 5:00 p.m.