Spider women’s basketball is back in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. This year, they secured a No. 8 seed as an at-large team. That means they’ll be playing in their home white jerseys when they take on ninth-seeded Georgia Tech of the ACC in Los Angeles on Friday, March 21. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. Here’s your primer.
1. The team earned an at-large bid.
Being an at-large pick is a big deal for Richmond, a mid-major program. It’s a stamp of approval that you’re among the nation’s best.
“To be an at-large, you really have to be deserving,” said Aaron Roussell, the Spiders’ head coach. “You’ve got to do the work, from setting up the schedule and then following through.”
The Spiders built their at-large resume with one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country and eye-popping play in conference.
The nonconference schedule included wins over the Big 12’s Oklahoma State, which enters the NCAA postseason ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 poll, and Columbia, which won the Ivy League regular season title this year. The Spiders also played three games against SEC teams in six days. All of those teams begin the tournament at 41 or better in the NCAA’s NET rankings.
In the conference season and A-10 tournament, they put together a program-best 17-game winning streak, going more than two months without losing a game. Their 17 conference wins marked the highest conference win total in A-10 history, and they brought the A-10 regular season championship trophy back to campus.
Buckle up for some more numbers: Going into the NCAA tournament, the Spiders have a 27-6 record and a NET ranking of 33. The NCAA uses a system called “quads” to rank the difficulty of games based on opponent, location, and other factors. Quad 1 games are the hardest, Quad 2 the next hardest, and so on. The Spiders went 1-3 in Quad 1 games, 4-1 in Quad 2 games, 5-0 in Quad 3 games, and 17-1 in Quad 4 games. Against NET top 100 teams, they went 8-4.
Of their six losses, three came against SEC teams that all currently rank in the AP Top 25 (No. 5 Texas, No. 20 Tennessee, and No. 21 Alabama). Two of the Spiders’ remaining three losses came on buzzer beaters (Georgetown and Saint Joseph’s). The outlier was an early January loss to conference opponent Fordham, which finished in ninth in the A-10. After that, the Spiders didn’t look back.
2. This success has been building steadily.
This year’s repeat tournament appearance as an at-large pick is another big step forward for the program under head coach Aaron Roussell, who is in his sixth season with the Spiders.
An early sign came during the 2021-22 season when the team knocked off the ACC’s Virginia, the program’s first win over a Power 5 opponent in seven years. The 2022-23 season brought the team’s first post-season appearance and win since 2015 with a bid to the NIT. Then last year’s team made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 19 years.
More on the Roussell effect, based on data from Her Hoops Stats: In the three seasons before he took over, the team’s winning percentage was 40%. For the last three seasons, it has been 77%. Much of this is built on improved offensive performance.
Comparing the same two periods, the team improved from 58 points per game to 71. Its field goal percentage increased from 35% to 47%. Its offensive rating—that is, points scored per 100 possessions—jumped from 85 to 104. At the same time, the defensive rating—how many points opposing teams score per 100 possessions—dropped by 5.
In a nutshell: Under Roussell and his staff, the Spiders score more often, and their opponents score less often.
3. The team has a consistent, impressive starting five.
With the exception of Senior Day, season ticket holders heard the same five names in the starting line-up all season: Addie Budnik, Maggie Doogan, Katie Hill, Ally Sweeney, and Rachel Ullstrom. A-10 opponents heard those same five names in their nightmares. Collectively, they make 52% of their field goals, 40% of their three-point shots, and 78% of their free throws.
The team’s offense runs through junior Maggie Doogan, the A-10’s 2025 Player of the Year. She was either the shooter or made the assist on 37% of Spider field goals this season. She can bully her way through the paint or drop in a dagger from behind the three-point arc. She gets to the free throw line more than twice as often as any of her teammates. Once there, she shoots 79%.
Junior Rachel Ullstrom, who joined Doogan on the A-10’s All-Conference First Team, is the other half of the team’s dynamic scoring duo. Both have more than 500 points this season, and both rank in the nation’s top 40 in shooting percentage. Ullstrom ranks inside the top 25 in three-point percentage and leads the team in steals. She is money at the free throw line, making 86%, a team high among all players with 10 or more attempts.
Graduate student and Spider great Addie Budnik is sixth in career blocked shots among active NCAA players and ascended to third on the Spiders’ all-time scoring list this season. Budnik, Doogan, and Ullstrom are all in the program’s 1,000-point club, and all can streak inside in a flash on backdoor cuts.
Senior and three-year starter Katie Hill is the classic glue player, making contributions through skill and toughness that don’t always show up on stat sheets, particularly on defense. As head coach Aaron Roussell put it during the A-10 tournament send-off, “None of the team’s current success happens without her.” She doesn’t shoot as often as her teammates, but when she does, she makes 52% of her attempts.
Sophomore Ally Sweeney capably stepped into point guard duties after backing up last season’s All-Conference First Team guard Grace Townsend. She would rank third nationally for three-point shooting percentage if she had more attempts. Sweeney and Doogan are the engines behind the team’s No. 22 ranking for assists per game and No. 31 ranking for assist-to-turnover ratio.
4. Transfers are playing a key role.
Three names to know: Alyssa Jimenez, Faith Alston, and Anna Camden. All are graduate transfers and average between 13 and 17 minutes a game.
Jimenez, who played for Florida Gulf Coast and Nevada, is one of two key back-up guards. She has a fluid shot, shooting 38% from behind the arc, and she keeps opponents uncomfortable with a high steal rate. Alston, the other back-up ballhandler, averages 15 points a game. Last season, she was Appalachian State’s leading scorer and ranked 49th nationally in points per game. For the Spiders this season, their minutes have been crucial.
Defensive specialist Anna Camden, who made nearly 60 starts during four years at Penn State, sat out all last season with injury. This season, she has appeared in all 33 games. Listed at 6-3 on the roster, she is long and plays even longer. With surprising quickness, she makes herself known by rebounding, blocking shots, and generally frustrating whatever plans opponents have near the rim.
5. The team is hunting the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament win.
This is the Spider program’s fifth trip to the NCAA tournament. They previously appeared in 2024, 2005, 1991, and 1990. They hope this is the year when they make it to the second round. If they do, they’ll likely face overall No. 1 seed UCLA.
The starting five bring tournament experience. Three of them (Budnik, Doogan, and Hill) were starters during the 2024 NCAA tournament game, when the team fell to Duke by 11 points. The fourth starter, Rachel Ullstrom, played 23 minutes coming off the bench.
“I talked openly when I was hired that this is a goal,” Roussell said. “Even after last season, there’s a checking of the box, ‘OK, we’ve made the tournament. Now, what’s the next step?’”
6. If this is your first close look at the team, you’re going to enjoy watching.
The Robins Center was alive for this team this season. Average home attendance topped 1,700. If you look only at games played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, average attendance rises to 2,349. The highwater mark was the team’s home game against VCU Jan. 19, which drew nearly 3,500. To put those numbers in perspective, in the decade before Roussell took over, average attendance generally ranged in the mid-600s and twice dropped into the 500s.
“When we started, we really wanted to change the environment for games,” Roussell said. “Sharing what we do with our fans and the community has really been a highlight for me and I know for our players as well. It’s developing into a really cool environment.”
They’ve got us on a fun ride, and we’re here for it.
Go Spiders.