LOS ANGELES — Maggie Doogan had 30 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, and eighth-seeded Richmond routed ninth-seeded Georgia Tech 74-49 on Friday night for the Spiders' first women's NCAA Tournament victory.
Addie Budnik added 14 points for Richmond (28-6), which had gone winless in four previous March Madness appearances by the program that began play in 1981.
With a phenomenal 18-point first half from Doogan, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, the Spiders jumped to a 20-point lead. They comfortably stayed in front of the Yellow Jackets all night while playing more than 2,600 miles from home at Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s what you just dream of,” Doogan said. “My family is here, so to be able to do that in front of them is really cool. They've seen my progress from when I was really little. A lot of them have been to almost every single one of my games. It’s a special feeling.”
Richmond will next face the winner of top-seeded Big Ten champion UCLA’s late meeting with First Four winner Southern.
Tonie Morgan scored 12 points for the Yellow Jackets (22-11), who lost six of their final seven games. Georgia Tech started cold and never warmed up, making 30% of its shots in the first three quarters.
The victory was the culmination of six years of steady growth under coach Aaron Roussell for the Spiders, who have now won 57 games in the last two seasons. Richmond lost to Duke in the first round last season.
“That group in that locker room is going to remember this for the rest of their life,” Roussell said. “Every time they come back for a school reunion, they’re going to talk about this, and everyone who was in the stands is going to talk about this. We talked about having that for the rest of our lives last year. The new people on this team didn’t get to have that. That was crushing. So we wanted to have a legacy moment with this group for this university, for somebody to talk about for the rest of their lives together.”
After a few character-building nonconference losses in December, Richmond rolled off a 17-game winning streak and claimed the A10's regular-season title. The streak ended in the conference tournament semifinals on a buzzer-beater by Saint Joseph's, but Doogan and the Spiders kept the confidence grown from a season of challenges met.
They dominated the ACC's Yellow Jackets, who were making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five years under veteran coach Nell Fortner.
Georgia Tech struggled down the stretch with those six late losses — albeit five to NCAA Tournament teams, and while being forced to make two separate trips to California.
“It was just a tough night for us,” Fortner said. “I thought we had some good looks and couldn’t find the basket. I thought we maybe lost some confidence along the way. We have to learn from it and move on.”
Doogan got the Spiders rolling in the first quarter with 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions during a 13-2 run. The Spiders scored 11 straight points to open the second quarter to stretch their lead to 30-10.
Takeaways
Georgia Tech: A late-season slump shouldn't detract much from the progress made in the Jackets' three-year surge under Fortner.
Richmond: Doogan doesn't play on the biggest national stage, but she has been able to deliver in big games all season long. She'll always give the Spiders a chance.
Key stat
Doogan missed four of her first five shots before going 10 for 13 the rest of the way. She hit five 3-pointers.
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