WASHINGTON – Entering her first season as the head coach of the Richmond women’s basketball program, Alisa Kresge comes off a dominant stretch at Vermont where she won three conference tournaments and two regular season championships. Kresge was named the America East Coach of the Year last season, earning the Catamounts their fifth consecutive 20-win season. Richmond seemed like the perfect fit for someone with such a high expectation for success.
“I think they just do it from the leadership on down, everybody does it the right way,” Kresge remarked to Field of 68’s Talia Goodman. “It’s a great academic institution, they’ve had success, they pour so much into basketball and that’s the community, the institution, that’s the players. It just felt like for my beliefs and how we like to handle our business it was a no brainer for us.”
Kresge concedes her first 30 days at Richmond felt a bit chaotic, working simultaneously to retain as much of the returning roster as possible while also finding new talent. She feels she has now collected a good mixture of student-athletes that are eager to accomplish something together.
“We tried to retain as many as we could,” stated Kresge. “They were winners, they know what it takes. Keeping those six was huge. Then trying to retain the committed freshmen, three stayed. Had to go find a couple of pieces. The timing was tough, but I think we got some nice players that are going to help us continue to build our foundation.”
Here is a look at the Spiders:
Coach – Alisa Kresge - 1st season
Last year- Richmond went 26-8 overall and 15-3 in A10 play, including a 13-1 record at home, marking the Spiders’ fourth consecutive 20-plus win season. The Spiders posted an 11-game A10 winning streak and won their final three contests, earning the No. 3 seed in last season’s Betterment Atlantic 10 Tournament. Richmond fell short to George Mason in the A10 semifinals but earned a third consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament, dropping a First Four contest to Nebraska.
They’ll miss- Maggie Doogan (21.1 ppg/7.9 rpg/50.6% FG/40.4% 3’s/89% FT/133 assts/91 3-pointers), Rachel Ullstrom (13.9 ppg/5.6 rpg/47.9% FG/40.9 3’s/92 3-pointers), Alicia Newell (7.2 ppg/42.7% FG/61 stls)
Impact returners- Ally Sweeney (10.5 ppg/46% FG/87.2% FT/149 assts), Ava Persichetti (3.8 ppg), Rayne Wright (3.4 ppg/50.5% FG)
Newcomers of note- Harriet Ford (5.1 ppg/5.8 rpg/42.9% FG at Duquesne), Josie Fontana (freshman), Emma Schoen (freshman)
Reasons to be optimistic- Ally Sweeney coming back is big for Kresge. As she remarked at A10 Media Day, Sweeney understands what it takes on and off the court. Kresge had attempted to recruit Sweeney at Vermont years earlier, and now that relationship has rekindled.
“Ally is a natural leader,” Kresge assessed. “Now we are challenging her to use that voice to lead. It can’t always be by example. She’s growing into it and it’s going to be second nature any day.”
Sweeney has received guidance from past Spider greats, including Maggie Doogan, Addie Budnik and Grace Townsend, using their examples to help find her own voice.
“I’ve learned more than you can imagine,” determined Sweeney. “I’ve played with tremendous leaders and I think they’ve all had different styles of leadership. I’ve gotten to see what worked best for each of them and how they did things differently. They just all know how to win and do it the right way and how to reach out to the community. It’s going to be really different without them, but I think that I’ve learned enough from them that I can step up to the challenge.”
Sweeney has found a way to improve on the court this year, and this offseason she looked to improve her midrange shot to become a three-level scorer.
Ava Persichetti, Rayne Wright and Aneisha Scott are among the returning Spiders to this season’s squad. Sweeney has been struck by Scott’s quickness and ability to get downhill and finish at the basket or pass out to shooters. Her midrange game has also developed and may surprise opponents.
X Factor- Kresge admits it was a quick process trying to identify new Spiders that fit the team’s style and overall university mission. Their overall development will be critical to how this year’s team performs.
Harriet Ford played at Duquesne last season and understands the A10. Kresge believes a player with Ford’s size and inside presence was a necessary addition, adding a physicality that will come into play throughout the season.
The Spiders also bring in a hungry freshmen class which will need to adapt to the physicality at the college level. Without a lot of experienced depth at the post position, the freshmen likely hear their name called early.
“We are very young, but we’re excited with the foundation we have,” Kresge said. “We have a lot of green, excited young ones.”
Circle the date- Richmond has early home tests on Nov. 6 and Nov. 8 against Princeton and Rice, respectively. The pair produced a combined 55 wins last year, with Princeton reaching the NCAA Tournament and Rice the WBIT. The Spiders host Holy Cross on Nov. 22, another NCAA Tournament team. Richmond returns to Henrico, Va. on Nov. 27 to compete in the 4 Tha Culture Holiday Tournament against a WBIT foe, St. John’s.
Bottom line- Year one of the Kresge era is underway and she believes that Richmond will continue to up its expectations.
“We have high standards for ourselves,” she concluded. “We’re going to pour absolutely everything into it, but we’re always going to do it the right way. The biggest thing for us is that it’s a new year; this team has to write the story. We start each year from scratch, building it up, so we’re trying to stay focused on the details every day.”