"I just wish this could have been either on Sunday or in the evening, or have us in opposite brackets so more fans, so girls who play in the area, could come and see this," Shafer said.
What most missed was a sterling opening 20 minutes of VCU defense, followed by a gutsy Richmond comeback that fell short when the Spiders went cold at the worst possible time, as the Rams took a 61-52 decision over their cross-town rivals, ending the Richmond Spiders' season at 14-16.
Robyn Parks, who led VCU (22-8) with 17 points, took the fighter's mentality to the floor at the Coliseum against a team who defeated her squad just eight days ago, 73-60.
"We had to get through this to live to fight another day," Parks noted.
Helping her fight was guard Jessica Pellechio, making the most of her 22 minutes, going 4-of-6 from the field, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc to be VCU's second leading scorer at 14 points.
"As a shooter, I always look for shots, but today it was my teammates who found me. I don't just try to jack up shots, but when they're available, I'll take them," Pellechio explained.
Isis Thorpe had a strong first half offensively with 10 points total. That could be said of VCU as a whole, as a 40-25 lead at intermission held firm for the first few minutes of the second half before Richmond, led by senior Kristina King, began to chip away.
A foul and technical foul on Melanie Royster gave the Spiders the chance to cut a 13-point lead to 9. They were 2-of-4 at the line. The Spiders left more points at the line in the second half during their second half comeback, but more importantly, they went cold in the final four minutes.
Parks missed a jumper with 3:26 to go with the Rams up 56-51. King missed a baseline shot. Another Rams miss at 2:00 left was followed by a Spiders miss. The score seemed to hang at 56-51 forever, for both teams. VCU got a basket underneath from Camille Calhoun to up the lead, after a Spider free throw, to 58-52. Free throws by the Rams ended the game, and the Spiders season.
King, in her final game as a Spider (along with fellow seniors Amber Nichols and Becca Wann of Cosby High School), was 9-of-18 from the field, scoring 24 points. Freshman Janelle Hubbard had 13, but no other Richmond player had more than six.
Richmond now enters the off-season with the bulk of their team returning, plus freshman sensation Olivia Healy, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in late January, and Glen Allen High recruit Alicia Hudalla.
VCU rests up, and gets ready for two-time league regular season champion Dayton in the 12Noon Quarterfinal on Friday.
"We feel confident about how we match up with Dayton," VCU head coach Marlene Stollings said. "They're #1 in scoring, we're #2. We played them to four points at their place. We look forward to facing them on a neutral floor and see what we can do."
Dayton head coach Jim Jabir took in the entire game at courtside on press row. The Flyers will be ready, too. It could be a special opening to Quarterfinal Friday at the Coliseum.
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