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RICHMOND, Va. – It was a historic day at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center as Head Coach Beth Cunningham became the all-time winningest head coach in Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball with the Rams’ 68-45 victory over the Fightin’ Blue Hens of the University of Delaware on Sunday afternoon. “I’m just very grateful to be where I’m at right now,” Cunningham said. “This is certainly been a lot of hard work by a lot of different people, from strength and conditioning coaches to trainers to assistant coaches to student-athletes, just everybody coming together. I’m just proud to have the chance to represent VCU.” Four different players scored in double-figures led by double-doubles from senior Quanitra Hollingsworth (Chesapeake, Va.), 16 points and 12 rebounds, and junior Kita Waller (Gainesville, Ga.) (left), 16 points and 11 rebounds. “We know that all the hard work we put in, she’s doing the same thing and we’re trying to get better just as she’s trying to as our coach,” Waller said. “We’re a family in this locker room, we love Coach [Cunningham] and she loves us. It’s really a great feeling to be a part of this program and be a part of getting Coach [Cunningham] the record.” The victory is the 12th straight home win for the Black and Gold and 10th in the past 11 games. VCU improves to 14-3 and 4-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while Delaware falls to 8-8 on year and 0-5 in conference action. With the two teams tied at 4-4 early in the contest, junior D’Andra Moss (Atlanta, Ga.) took over scoring six straight points to spark a 12-2 run as the Black and Gold ran out to 16-6 advantage with 12:17 left in the first half. Hollingsworth took over late in the first half scoring seven straight points for the Rams as VCU took a 33-20 lead into the intermission. A sluggish start to the half by both squads had the score at 47-36 with 11:01 remaining in the contest. Waller and Hollingsworth took combing for eight points over the next six minutes to ignite a 10-1 VCU run and give the Black and Gold a commanding 57-37 advantage with less than five minutes left in the contest. The unselfishness of the Rams really shined in the second half with assists on the last 10 VCU baskets in the contest to hold for the decisive 68-45 victory. VCU owned pretty much every statistical category with 20 assists on 25 field goals and a dominating 52-28 rebounding edge. “Our coaches stress every game and practice how important rebounding is,” Waller said. “As a team, we really wanted to get after it today and it’s great to see what can happen when we really focus our attention to that.”
Hollingsworth’s 16-point, 12-rebound performance was her third straight and 46th career double-double, while Waller notched her second career double-double on the afternoon. Junior La’Tavia Rorie (Charlotte, N.C.) (right) tallied 15 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Moss finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Freshman Courtney Hurt (Conyers, Ga.) continued her outstanding play with nine points and eight rebounds off the bench. “I just think we have a number of different kids that can contribute on every night. It’s great as a coaching staff to know that we no matter who we put it in the game, we’re not going to miss a beat,” Cunningham said. “We’ve done a great job of having quality depth so far, and to get where we want to be at the end of the year, we’re going to have to keep doing it.” Vanessa Kabongo was the only Fightin’ Blue Hen in double-figures with 10 points in the loss. The Rams finish up their three-game home stand on Thursday evening as they host the Pride of Hofstra University in a 7 p.m. contest.
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The balanced scoring continued once again, making it 14 of the 17 games so far this season with at least three players in double figures. All rights reserved.
