Billikens Hold Off Richmond, 60-55
Jan. 27, 2008
ST. LOUIS - Theresa Lisch scored a game-high 22 points and Amy Klotz tallied 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds to lift Saint Louis to a 60-55 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over Richmond at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center on Sunday. The win snapped a two-game skid for the Billikens (8-12, 3-2 A-10), who reached three conference wins in five tries for the first time since the 2001-02 season. SLU is tied with Dayton for fifth place in the league, one game behind Charlotte, George Washington, Xavier and Temple. Richmond slipped to 9-11 overall and 2-3 in the A-10. "I thought our defense pulled us through in the end and got us the win," said Lisch, who topped the SLU scoring chart for the sixth consecutive game. "We had pretty good defensive intensity throughout the game. That's definitely what we need every game." "This is a great win for us over a very solid team," senior guard Hayley Leake said. "We knew Richmond was a tough team that never goes away. Our whole focus coming in was on defense, and by doing that, it sparked our offense." Saint Louis led 33-26 at halftime before seeing Richmond storm back and trail by just a bucket on three occasions in the second half. Leading 42-40, the Bills took command again with an 8-0 run, ignited by a Katie Paganelli 3-pointer, that stretched the margin to 50-40 with 9:04 to play. The SLU cushion was 52-43 with 4:38 left when Richmond embarked on a 10-0 spurt that put the Spiders on top for the first time since an early 4-3 lead. But Lisch made two free throws to put the Bills in front for good, 54-53, with 2:59 left, and from there it was defense and six more Lisch freebies that secured the victory. Richmond didn't score again until Brittani Shells connected with just 16 seconds remaining.
A 15-4 outburst, featuring scoring from five different players, stretched an 8-6 edge into the Bills' largest lead of the contest, 23-10, with 8:56 left in the first half. Richmond responded with a 14-5 run that made it 28-24 SLU at the 2:33 mark, but Klotz hit a jumper and Lisch buried her fourth triple of the opening period to put Saint Louis back in charge before the break. Paganelli finished with eight points, while Heather King scored a season-high seven points and grabbed six rebounds, including four crucial offensive boards. Johanna McKnight scored 19 points, and Christina Campion had 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Richmond. The Spiders shot 43 percent from the floor to the Billikens' 36 percent but were 0-of-9 from beyond the arc and just 15-of-24 from the foul line. Led by Lisch's 8-of-8 performance, Saint Louis shot 76 percent (16-of-21) from the stripe, eclipsing the 70-percent mark for the 16th time in 20 games this season. The Billikens travel to Cincinnati on Wednesday to take on Xavier. Game time is 11 a.m. (CT). |
|
