June 1, 2009

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The women's basketball team notched 10 more wins than last year's squad, resulting in one of the nation's top turnarounds for a Division I women's basketball program. The Spiders ended their season with a 24-10 record, marking the most wins since the 1988-89 season and third best overall record in program history.

Richmond ranked 10th among NCAA Division I women's basketball teams for its improvement from last season. The Spiders are just one of six teams on the most improved list to have made postseason play. The Spiders received a bye in the WNIT for the first time since 2004 and made their first-ever appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship game.

"The significance of this statistic is that we took the difficult steps necessary to make such an improvement," said head coach Michael Shafer. "We had won 14 games last season, so finishing in the top 10 for improvement means that we had to win a lot of games this year- we won 24. We finished in post season play. I am proud of our team for making the necessary changes to make such an impressive turnaround. What excites us even more is that we believe that we can make even more improvements next year."

The Spiders were anchored by All Conference first-team selection Brittani Shells' 15.1 ppg. Richmond loses just two members from this year's team, and welcomes newcomer Ryann Dannelly from Clarksville, Md.

Richmond recently announced playing the defending national champion, UConn Huskies in a round-robin tournament over Thanksgiving break. The Spiders will release their full schedule later this fall.