SPORTS
Women’s Basketball Wins in A-10 Round One, Round Two Slated for Friday Morning
Redshirt sophomore Elle Sutphin scored 22 points in the ‘Cats first round at the A-10 tournament. (this photo from a home game in Belk Arena)
WILMINGTON, Del. – Elle Sutphin scored a game-high 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting, and Davidson used a strong second half to defeat eighth-seeded Richmond, 66-62, Thursday on day two of the 2022 Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 16-13 overall and advance to Friday’s quarterfinals where they’ll meet top-seeded Dayton at 11 a.m.
Sutphin, Davidson’s leading scorer during the regular season, was joined in double figures by Chloe Welch (14) and all-rookie selection Issy Morgan(13), who helped ice the game with a layup in the final seconds.
Cassidy Gould also turned in a solid all-around performance for the ‘Cats with six points, eight rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes.
In addition to starting and ending the opening period with runs, Richmond (16-14) shot 62.5 percent in the first quarter, including six 3-pointers before concluding the frame with a 26-21 advantage. After the Spiders raced out to a 10-2 lead, the Wildcats clawed back to tie the game, 15-15, highlighted by 8 points from Sutphin.
Trailing 34-27 at the 3:19 mark of quarter number two, Davidson started to settle in at both ends of the floor and closed the half on a 9-2 spurt, capped by a Cameron Tabor triple to head into the break deadlocked at 36-all.
Davidson carried the momentum into the second half as Welch started the third with a trey giving her club their first lead since the opening basket. Shortly after the Spiders went back in front, the Wildcats would take control and lead for good with a 14-4 stretch over the next 5-plus minutes.
Richmond slowly chipped away at the nine-point deficit in the final stanza getting to within 64-62, but Davidson’s Morgan would put the game out of reach with a driving layup with 12 ticks remaining.
Addie Budnik paced two Spiders in double figures with 19 points.
The Wildcats, who finished with a 39-32 edge on the glass, held the Spiders to just 34.1 percent after their blistering clip in the first 10 minutes.