Feb. 15, 2007

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - Freshman standout Amber Harris scored a game-high 17 points, blocked a Xavier record 11 shots and was two rebounds shy of a triple-double to help head coach Kevin McGuff to his 100th career victory and lead the Xavier University women's basketball team to a 63-53 victory over Richmond on Thursday evening. With the win, Xavier improves to 20-7 on the year and 8-3 in Atlantic 10 play. The Spiders slip to 11-15, 5-6.

The win marks the 10th time in program history XU has won 20 games and the second straight year in which the Musketeers have recorded 20 regular-season wins.

McGuff's 100th win came in his 149th game, marking the fastest any XU head coach has reached the 100-win plateau.

Harris' 17 came on 7-of-12 shooting and she was also 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Her 11 blocks shatters the previous XU single-game record of eight established by teammate Joei Clyburn vs. La Salle this season.

Harris now has 108 blocks this season, eclipsing Taru Tuukkanen's career-individual record of 101 set from 1997-01.

Clyburn notched her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She was 6-for-7 from the floor and recorded a pair of steals. Senior guard Michele Miller added 13 points and five rebounds and classmate Miranda Green chipped in with 10 points.

Xavier maintained its 10-point halftime edge, 44-34, after Miller converted on a put-back with 14:50 remaining in regulation. Richmond would not go away though and sprinted out to a 13-4 run over the next 6:40 and pulled to within one point, 48-47, with 8:10 to go.

Xavier would pull away with stingy defense and allowed only one Spider field goal over the next 6:20 and opened up a more comfortable 62-51 lead with under one-minute to go. XU's interior defense was key in the decisive spurt as nine of Harris' 11 blocks came in the second half.

XU won the battle of the boards by a 46-to-41 margin and held a 33-to-23 edge on the defensive glass. The Musketeers played some of their best defense of the year, holding Richmond to just 31.4 percent (22-for-70) from the floor and 21.4 percent (3-for-14) from deep.

Senior guard Suntana Granderson struggled from the field but managed to score eight points and pull down a career-best nine rebounds.

Richmond took the early 2-0 lead when Nikita Thomas converted on a fast break lay-up 30-seconds into the contest. However, Xavier would respond and charged out to a 15-0 run over the next eight-minutes to take a 15-2 lead at the 11:30 mark. Clyburn was key for XU in the run, scoring eight points during the stretch including a pair of lay-ups on the fast break.

UR was able to whittle the Xavier lead to seven points, 22-15, with 6:10 to go. The Musketeers would not allow UR to get any closer though and took a 34-24 lead into the locker room.

Xavier will be back in action on Sunday, February 18 when the team travels to Massachusetts to take on the Minutewomen. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at the Mullins Center.