Erin Floyd led four 49ers in double-figures with 16 points. |
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49ers Top Richmond, 76-66, On Senior Night To Earn The Fourth Seed In The A-10 Tournament
March 1, 2008
2008 A-10 Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket 
Charlotte, NC - The Charlotte 49ers (18-12, A-10: 9-5) behind a balanced offensive attack behind four double-figure scorers defeated Richmond (13-16, A-10: 6-8), 76-66, on Senior Night to clinch the fourth seed in next week's Atlantic 10 Tournament, March 7-10. The 49ers have now earned one of the four first-round byes in the A-10 Tournament in each of their three seasons in the league.
"Tonight's game was one of our best of the season," Charlotte coach Karen Aston said. "We played every play hard tonight. We did not take any plays off and it showed down the stretch. This was just a fantastic team win."
Charlotte was led in scoring by Erin Floyd who finished the game with 16 points. Traci Ray scored 15 points including three three-point field goals. She also tallied four assists which allowed her to become the 14th player in school history to record over 100 assists in a season. Sabrina Gregory, who was playing in her final regular season home game, tallied 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds in the game. Wendy Stywalt rounded out the 49ers double-figure scorers with 10 points.
"Our seniors gave us terrific performances tonight," Aston said. "Sabrina Gregory came out a little tight but then she settled down and played really well. Whitney Hoey really gave us some great minutes today. You know with Whitney that she is going to play hard and not make mistakes."
The 49ers bench behind Ray's 15 points and eight points from Danielle Burgin outscored Richmond's bench, 30-17. The 49ers behind 18 offensive rebounds enjoyed a 19-6 advantage on second chance points.
The first six minutes, the game went back and forth with several lead changes. Then, Gregory knocked down a jump shot giving the 49ers a lead that they would never relinquish at 12-11 at the 13:55 mark. Gregory's basket started a 11-0 run by the 49ers which pushed Charlotte's lead to 21-11 on a Ray three-point field at the 11:03 mark. Shannon McCallum, Floyd and Burgin also scored during the run.
Richmond scored five unanswered points to get back into the game, 21-16, with 9:28 left in the half.
Charlotte would maintain a lead of 5-8 points for the next six minutes. Then, Charlotte's Aysha Jones knocked down a jump shot and two Ray free throws pushed the 49ers lead to 11 points, 36-25, at the 2:39 mark.
When, Burgin connected on two free throws with 1:19 left in the half, the 49ers had their largest lead of the half, 40-27. Richmond would score five straight points capped off by Christina Campion's three with 16 seconds left on the clock which cut Charlotte's halftime lead to 40-32.
Richmond began the second half by scoring six of the half's first eight points cutting Charlotte's lead to 42-38 with 1:01 left on the clock. Gregory knocked down a three in front of Charlotte's bench which stopped the Richmond run pushing the 49ers lead to seven points, 45-38, with 15:29 on the clock.
Richmond's Johanna McKnight would complete a three-point play cutting Charlotte's lead to four points, 45-41. The 49ers would score 13 of the next 18 points pushing their lead to 59-46 at the 8:11 mark when Burgin connected on a layup.
Then, Richmond would score eight unanswered points cutting Charlotte's lead to five points, 59-54, at the 5:14 mark.
Richmond would get even closer on two occasions by cutting Charlotte's lead to two points. With the 49ers lead trimmed to two, 63-61, at the 1:59 mark, Charlotte's Stywalt scored and then two free throws from Ray pushed the 49ers lead to six points, 67-61, at the 1:03 mark.
The 49ers closed out the game with six free throws from Floyd and three free throws from Stywalt which made the 49ers final margin of victory, 76-66.
The 49ers, who have a first-round bye as the fourth seed in the A-10 Tournament, face the winner of fifth-seed Dayton and 12th-seed Massachusetts in the quarterfinals Saturday, March 8 at 2 pm at Saint Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
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