FINAL: Loyola 49, Richmond 68
The Ramblers were outshot and outsized in their Atlantic 10 home opener on Wednesday. Coach Guth gave credit to Richmond’s offense, “Credit to Richmond’s players. They played a fabulous game of playing beautiful basketball – sharing the ball and scoring it in a multitude of ways.” Richmond had 5 players who finished with 10+ points, led by Katie Hill who had 15 points and 12 rebounds – her first double-double of the season. The Ramblers struggled with Richmond’s big guards. They often had to double in the post, which led to open threes the Spiders – and they didn’t miss them. Richmond shot 54% overall, and they made 8 of their 15 three point attempts. Richmond played good defense, but the Ramblers missed a bunch of good looks as well. All in all, I think this is a performance the Ramblers might want to throw away and move on to the next one.
How it Happened:
The Spiders outplayed the Ramblers in the first half. Katie Hill had 11 of her 15 points in the first half. She scored 9 points on three consecutive possessions for the Spiders – two three pointers and one conventional three point play. Richmond used some great plays to get their bigger wing players driving or posting on Loyola’s smaller guards. They’d get good looks at the hoop or kick out for three pointers. On the other side of the court, Richmond’s post players played lockdown defense on the Rambler’s posts. The Nolan twins, Hoefling, and Tanin were held to a combined 7 points and 6 rebounds. Kira Chivers gave the Ramblers a spark off the bench. She forced a steal and a jump ball on her first two possessions. After that she assisted Jala Johnson on a fastbreak layup. Anna Brown also hit a couple threes in the first half. But other than that there weren’t many bright spots for the Ramblers.
In the second half, the Ramblers kept fighting. They played some great defense, and they created 9 takeaways. Even though the first half was a bit disappointing, Coach Guth changed some things in the third quarter. “We wanted more intensity and better ball pressure. We wanted to grind it out and be more physical with our coverage”. Even though they got stops, the Ramblers still weren’t able to hit many shots in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was a different story. 40% of the games points were scored in the fourth quarter. The Ramblers were able to hit 5 threes in the quarter – one each by Ramage, Galanopoulos, and Brown. Maya Chandler hit two threes. Richmond scored 24 points of their own in the fourth, and the game was out of hand halfway through the fourth.
Rambler Developments
Two of the Ramblers guards worked their tails off on Wednesday. Anna Brown and Sam Galanopoulos gave great effort on defense, rebounding, and were the bright spots on offense. Galanopoulos in particular has been extremely consistent the last few weeks. She’s scored in double figures in 7 of the last 8 games, averaging 12.6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. After a slower start to the season, Sam has found her form. Additionally, I thought that Mallory Ramage looked great on Wednesday night. She had 5 PTs and 5 Reb, but I thought she played great defense, boxed out well, and took advantage of her opportunities on offense. Coach Guth talked a bit about her development after the game, “she keeps on improving and is trusting the process .. there’s not a day that she doesn’t come in and give it 105%”
What’s Next
The Ramblers continue with their conference slate on Saturday. They play the Atlantic 10 preseason favorite, UMass at home at 2 PM. Come out and cheer on our Ramblers!
