UR women’s team bucks odds to vie for NCAA bid

Of this much, Michael Shafer is certain: Even if the bubble bursts, his players' enthusiasm will remain intact.

Shafer's University of Richmond women's basketball team, 21-8 and seeded fourth in the Atlantic 10 tournament, probably needs to win at least twice this weekend in Charlotte if it is to sustain its odds-defying pursuit of an NCAA at-large bid. But should an NCAA invitation not be forthcoming, Shafer said, this team will happily say "yes" to the NIT.

"That's what makes this such a special team," said Shafer, who yesterday accepted a multi-year extension to his original UR contract. "They like to do this. No, actually, they love to do this. They love to compete. They love to come to practice every day. For them it's fun. They enjoy it. You can see it. You can feel it. They can't get enough of it."

Nor can Shafer get enough of this appealingly gritty group.

"They're an incredible bunch to work with because you never have to coach effort or attitude," he said. "All you have to do is help them become better basketball players."

The Spiders have climbed to the doorstep of NCAA consideration despite adversity that would long ago have prompted lesser teams to hoist a white flag. Their starting point guard (Kara Powell) and a first-line forward (Katie Holzer) haven't played a minute because of injuries and slower-than-expected recuperation. A foot condition has limited 6-5 Kristen Phillips to 30 inconsequential minutes.

Another starting forward (Samantha Bilney) suffered a season-ending ACL injury last month. A hip condition has shelved guard Joy Tharrington for the season. Leading scorer Brittani Shells is playing with a dislocated finger that will require four weeks of rest at season's end.

"They could have made a ton of excuses - and you know what? They would have been justified," Shafer said. "But they didn't. I don't how to explain it except to say they decided, all of them together, that being successful was more important than making excuses."

They decided something else, too: that, given their limited offensive resources, they had no alternative but to earn their living at the defensive end of the floor. Richmond ranks second in the A-10 in scoring defense (56.1 ppg), first in turnover margin (+4.56 per game) and first in steals (10.76 per game). UR hasn't permitted an opponent to reach 70 points in a month and a half. Only one of its past five opponents has reached 60.

"We knew from the beginning that stopping people was going to give us our best chance to win," said senior guard Johanna McKnight. But as the season has unfolded, McKnight said, something else has become apparent: "We're not the biggest team, so we don't get a lot of easy baskets" on stickbacks and shots from point-blank range. "That's why it's so important that we have a defensive mindset. When we get easy baskets, that's usually where they come from."

McKnight, one of only two seniors on UR's roster and the last holdover from the Spiders' 2005 NCAA Tournament team, said her final season as a collegian has been little shy of Fantasyland.

"Going farther than anybody thought we could go," she said, "doing more than anybody thought we could do - isn't that what everybody wants their senior season to be?"