HENRICO, Va. -- Richmond senior forward Addie Budnik recalled her freshman season, how everyone ran on grass fields at 7 a.m. running sprints for an hour in the dirt and the limits that pushed on her team.
“That definitely pushed our team to our limits and brought some toughness,” she recalled.
Those runs and the journey Richmond has taken resulted in clinching its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2005 by claiming its first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship 65-51 over Rhode Island Sunday afternoon at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in front of 3,089 fans.
“It’s so surreal that it doesn’t feel real,” Richmond’s Grace Townsend explained. “We just won the game but I don’t think we realize what we really just did not just for ourselves but for the program and people behind us coming. It’s a testament of how hard we’ve worked and how much we’ve invested and I’m so glad that we stayed true to the process.
Maggie Doogan led the Spiders with her 18 points and seven rebounds. Both Budnik and Siobhan Ryan netted 14 points, the latter of whom matched an A-10 season high. Townsend earned 13 points, while Katie Hill brought down nine rebounds.
Richmond led for nearly 39 minutes in this contest and won the battle of the paint by a 36-24 count.
“Got to give a huge shoutout to Rhode Island, I know they’ve gone through a lot of adversity this year,” Richmond coach Aaron Roussell said. “That’s an incredible team and great coaching staff. This league has been incredible, by far the most competitive and best teams that this league has seen since I’ve been here. I hope somebody else is joining us in the tournament because that would be a shame if only one team was going. I couldn’t be happier with our team. It’s been a build these last five year, four really. This has been magical with these guys.”
Rhode Island had two scorers achieve double figures with Teisha Hyman amassing 13 points off the bench and Dee Dee Davis 11 points and eight rebounds. Maye Toure also recorded eight rebounds.
The Rams continuously gave themselves second-chance opportunities as evidenced by 23 offensive rebounds, winning the overall battle 41-35. A 16-2 bench advantage also served as a positive for Rhode Island.
“First and foremost I want to congratulate Richmond on the championship,” Rhode Island coach Tammi Reiss offered. “I thought they were the best team all year, they had championship habits and I thought they were the best team in the tournament and they were the better team today. I thought we fought in the second half, but I didn’t think we were ready for the first 20 minutes of the ballgame, and that’s where the game was won, especially the first quarter. I was proud of the team, they put up a fight and they didn’t quit.”
It was a fast start for Richmond, while Rhode Island was held without a basket for the first 3:14 of play. The Spiders scored the game’s opening five points with Budnik once more creating space from three-point range.
Rhody got on the board when Davis capitalized on one of four early Richmond turnovers, turning it into a layup.
With Rams forward Toure picking up two fouls towards the end of the first quarter, a 7-3 Spiders run closed out the opening period with Townsend darting down the court for a layup.
“The level of confidence that was coming from this group today was unbelievable,” assessed Roussell. “It was a combination of us watching film seeing them a little bit and everything to do with how well our team moves and synergy the group plays with. I probably shouldn’t share this maybe regret it later but there was a point in the game that I thought I was going to lose it crying just watching them play basketball. The style of basketball those first three or four minutes coming out was like proud parent, you’re just letting them go.”
After 10 minutes Richmond was doubling up Rhode Island 14-7. The run reached 15-2 as the Spiders opened with the first eight points of the second quarter. When Ryan took a rebound into the offensive end, she found Doogan for a corner three-point shot.
Soon after Richmond ran it in reverse, this time Doogan finding Ryan in the same spot to put the Spiders in front by 14 points.
When Doogan buried another three point jumper, the overwhelming Richmond crowd erupted in its loudest ovation of the game.
An undeterred Rhode Island side had a response with Sophie Phillips banging in a three-point shot and Hyman taking a Davis pass on the next Rams possession.
Down 12, Rhody had an opportunity towards the end of the half to cut its deficit into single digits and had multiple looks, but they did not fall.
Instead, Townsend once more successfully drove towards the basket and Budnik sank another triple four seconds before the buzzer sounded. At halftime, Richmond led 35-19.
The Spiders scored the first nine points as third quarter play commenced and in total it was a 14-0 run. Ryan nailing another three pointer was enough for Reiss to spend Rhode Island’s second timeout of the contest.
Rhody went 7:51 without a field goal as Richmond continued to wedge additional distance between the teams. Towards the end of the third quarter, Budnik found Doogan for a layup as the Spiders stretched the lead to 23 points.
Rhode Island would try to will itself back into the contest with a pair of baskets, trailing 50-31 entering the final quarter. The Rams remained engaged in the fourth period getting to the foul line and stay aggressive.
A 5-0 run activated Richmond’s first timeout when Sophia Vital sank a three point-shot and Dutat converted an offensive rebound into two points. With the Spider lead down to 15, Roussell elected to stop play to allow his team to collect itself. While Rhode Island did score another basket, Richmond regained composure with a couple of baskets.
Hyman’s layup was one more Rhody charge, bringing the Rams to within 12 points with less than two minutes to play, but this would serve as Rhode Island’s last basket of the contest.
“When coach got into the locker room she said ‘that was a representation of who we are,’” revealed Davis. “That’s what we need to be for 40 minutes and unfortunately it was only for the second half, but that’s just heart. We do hang our hat on defense and rebounding and we needed to defend and rebound. I’m proud of how we defended and rebounded, but it was too late.”
Richmond’s victory means that the Atlantic 10 Championship has had seven different champions in the last seven years.
“It was the calmest we’ve played, I expected more nerves out of myself and the team but honestly all of the preparation we had done this season led us to be super calm in this moment, poised, super controlled,” Ryan said of her team’s approach. “We weren’t scared, we weren’t worried, we were prepared.”
Now Richmond will wait to find out who it plays in the NCAA Tournament March 17 at 8 p.m.
Atlantic 10 2024 All-Championship Team
Peyton Kennedy - Saint Louis
Dee Dee Davis - Rhode Island
Maggie Doogan - Richmond
Grace Townsend - Richmond
Addie Budnik - Richmond
Most Outstanding Player
Addie Budnik - Richmond