Richmond Rolls Past Alabama A&M

The Richmond Spiders earned their 10th win of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 72-58 victory over the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.

Rachel Ullstrom led the Spiders with 20 points, while Rakiyah Beal paced the Bulldogs with 16. Richmond also received a strong lift from its bench, which outscored Alabama A&M 25-14. Ava Persichetti finished with nine points off the bench, and Sam Dewey added eight.

Richmond jumped out to a fast start, opening the game on a 13-0 run. The Spiders held a 21-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. A three-pointer from Ullstrom with 2:48 remaining in the second quarter gave Richmond its largest lead of the game at 41-21. The Spiders carried a 41-27 lead into halftime and maintained control throughout the second half on the way to the 72-58 win.

Richmond will face Penn State on Day 3 of the 4 Tha Culture Holiday Hoops Classic on Sunday, December 21, with tipoff scheduled for 2:30 pm.

Rams Fall to Nittany Lions

The VCU Rams fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions 78-66 on Saturday afternoon.

Daija Preston led VCU with a career high of 17 points, while Moriah Murray scored 18 points for Penn State. The Rams jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter, which proved to be their largest lead of the game.

Penn State responded with a 9-0 run to take a 15-8 advantage and led 23-14 at the end of the first quarter. VCU answered in the second quarter with an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 34-31 with 2:37 remaining before halftime. The Rams trailed 41-34 at the break.

Preston opened the third quarter with a layup that trimmed the Penn State lead to 43-41, marking the closest VCU would get for the remainder of the game. Penn State closed the quarter strong and led 64-54 heading into the fourth. The Nittany Lions maintained their lead down the stretch to secure the 78-66 victory.

VCU, now 4-9 overall and 0-1 in Atlantic 10 play, will face Saint Joseph’s on December 31 at 2 pm.