Feb. 28, 2010

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ST. LOUIS - Amanda Kemezys scored 16 points and set Saint Louis' single-season rebounding record, but Richmond came from behind to post a 67-59 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over the Billikens Sunday at Chaifetz Arena in the regular-season finale for both teams.

The Bills (11-18, 5-9 A-10) will be the No. 10 seed for the A-10 Championship, which begins Friday, March 5, at Show Place Arena in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Upper Marlboro, Md. Saint Louis will square off against No. 7 St. Bonaventure Friday at 4:30 p.m. (CT), with the winner taking on No. 2 Dayton in the quarterfinals Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (CT).

Kemezys' game-high nine rebounds gave her 269 this season, breaking the previous mark of 267 set by Jamie Cavaness in the 1995-96 season. Kathryn Hester tallied 12 points and six rebounds, Katie Paganelli scored nine points and Janisha Gearlds grabbed eight rebounds as the Bills earned a 41-35 advantage on the boards.

Richmond's Brittani Shells, the A-10's leading scorer, netted a game-high 25 points and added four assists and three steals. Crystal Goring and Abby Oliver registered 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Danielle Bell had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists.

The Bills never led in the first half, but they crawled out of an early 10-point hole to earn a 27-all halftime tie. The momentum carried into the second half, with SLU crafting a 16-6 run to take a 43-33 lead with 14:04 to play. Gearlds began the spurt with a jumper and punctuated it with a 3-pointer, and five other Billikens scored during the flurry.

However, SLU went cold and saw Richmond take command with a 22-5 run that covered almost 10 minutes. Kemezys registered a conventional 3-point play that sliced the Spiders' lead to 55-51 at the 4:05 mark, only to see Rachael Bilney connect on a 3-pointer moments later that pushed the margin back to seven. Robinson's short jumper was answered by a Shells trey, and Richmond was on top 61-53 with 2:28 remaining.

That lead was cut in half when Kemezys tallied consecutive buckets. Oliver hit a baseline jumper for a 63-57 Richmond edge, and Jacy Bradley responded with two free throws with 36 seconds left to narrow the gap to four points. But Goring made four consecutive free throws in the final 34 seconds to secure the victory.

Richmond raced to a 14-4 lead in the first 6:30 of the contest, but Saint Louis rallied and outscored the Spiders 23-13 the rest of the half. Seven Billikens scored during that stretch including Sammi McCloud, whose two free throws with two seconds left knotted the count at 27.