HENRICO, Va. — In five years, coach Tammi Reiss has made her mark on the Rhode Island women’s basketball program.
She has led the Rams to, among other highlights, their first regular-season Atlantic 10 Conference title (2023), three consecutive 20-win seasons overall and four consecutive winning seasons in the A-10, including a program record 14 wins last season. In addition, the Rams were the preseason No. 1 this season. In Reiss’ first season in Kingston, the Rams were picked 12th.
One thing still is missing, though, and that’s an A-10 tournament title, as the Rams lost, 65-51, to top-seeded Richmond on Sunday in the title game, their third loss to the Spiders this season.
But URI had put on quite a show the past four days at the Henrico Sports and Events Center, reaching the tournament final for the first time since 2003 and just the third time overall. URI (21-14) had wins over No. 11 Dayton (70-57), No. 3 Saint Joseph’s (57-47) and No. 7 Saint Louis (68-62). The Rams just couldn’t pull off one more victory in their fourth game in four days.
For URI, Teisha Hyman had 13 points, Dee Dee Davis 11 and Sophie Philips 9. Second-team all-conference selection Maya Tourè was held to six.
The Spiders (29-5) were led by first-team all-conference pick Maggie Doogan (18 points), Siobhan Ryan (14), Addie Budnik (14) and Grace Townsend (13).
The Rams started slowly, missing their first five shots of the game and making just one of their first 10. Almost eight minutes into the game, they were 2-for-14 from the field, had two turnovers and were being outrebounded, 9-5. By the end of the first quarter, when they trailed, 14-7, they were 3-15 (20%) from the field, including 1-of-5 on 3-pointers.
It didn’t get any better in the second quarter. The Rams were held scoreless the first 3:32 of the quarter before a layup by Ines Debroise ended the drought to make the score 22-9. After trailing, 30-13, with 2:29 left in the half, the Rams got a 3-pointer from Sophie Phillips and a traditional 3-point play from Hyman to pull within 11. But the Spiders, who hit 5-of-12 3-pointers in the quarter, countered with a layup from Townsend and a 3-pointer from Budnik right before the halftime buzzer for a 35-19 lead.
The Spiders, who had a decided crowd advantage as their campus is about 13 miles from the game site, effectively put away the game by scoring the first nine points of the quarter and building a 25-point lead at 6:45 on the strength of 14-0 run.
Along with the tournament title, the Spiders earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their fourth appearance, but first since 2005. They were making just their second appearance in the A-10 finals. They were picked fourth in the preseason and advanced to the tournament final by defeating No. 8 Loyola-Chicago, 70-54, and No. 5 Duquesne, 80-66.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island women’s basketball falls to Richmond in Atlantic 10 final
