March 9, 2025
Hawks beat the buzzer: Upset shakes up Atlantic 10 Tournament
Saint Joseph’s, George Mason advance to final
GLEN ALLEN, Va. — For the first time since 2021, the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament will not be in the championship game. No. 4 seed Saint Joseph’s is scheduled to take on No. 2 seed George Mason, who is making its first championship appearance since joining the A-10 in 2013.
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To make it to the championship game, the Hawks defeated No. 1 seed Richmond 50-49 on a true buzzer-beater from junior forward Laura Ziegler, and the Patriots defeated No. 4 seed Davidson 63-50.
After Saint Joseph’s defeated Richmond for the first time this season (after losing the previous two matchups), senior guard Mackenzie Smith said, “I just think it’s really hard to beat a team three times.”
To advance to its first NCAA tournament since 2014, Saint Joseph’s will have to beat George Mason for a third time this season, defeating the Patriots on Jan. 2 and Feb. 23. George Mason is seeking its first NCAA Tournament berth.
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Here are four takeaways from the A-10 Tournament semifinals:
Saint Joseph’s seeks first title since 2013
In case you missed it, here is Ziegler’s buzzer-beater to give the Hawks their win over the Spiders:
After allowing the go-ahead basket to Richmond junior forward Maggie Doogan with less than four seconds to go, Ziegler came out of the timeout head coach Cindy Griffin called with a reminder that she couldn’t change what just happened, but instead, she had to move on to the next play.
Ziegler was 3-13 on the afternoon heading into the final possession and she knew she’d have to return to a mantra she says often: “There’s no better moment to have a great moment than the next one.”
The belief in Ziegler and the love the team has for each other was evident through the press conference, with Ziegler and Smith holding hands for the first few moments of questions.
“I wasn’t stressed,” Smith said. “I knew that if Gabby [Casey] ended up hitting me, that we were gonna make something happen. Or if she hit [Ziegler], I knew that that ball was gonna go in. This girl shows up in moments when it’s very necessary. And she always just delivers.”
“We lose an hour of sleep, which is fine,” Griffin said. “But just regroup, look at the scout, see what we need to do, get rest and recovery, and maybe get some sleep. Maybe not. We’ll see.”
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Richmond awaits Selection Sunday
After dominating the A-10 all regular season, the Spiders were the favorites to win the conference tournament. But with that one final basket flipping their semifinal into a loss, they will now have to sit and wait and stress until Selection Sunday on March 16 to find out where its season is continuing in the Big Dance.
Head coach Aaron Roussell made his case to reporters after the game for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, though Richmond’s fate lies in the hands of the committee.
“I literally don’t know what else we could have done, he said. “… We were told last year, go get as many top 50 games as you can get. I’ve got the receipts. I’ve got the records of all the phone calls that we made. …
“I think we have five or six wins by teams that we thought were gonna be in the top 50, either are in the top 50 right now, or pretty darn close, if you go to 51 and 52. There ain’t been anybody that’s been left out of the tournament with five plus wins in the top 50. … I’d like to think that our chances are good. I know this is a group that expects to be there.”
There may not need to be too much stress for the Spiders: even after Saturday’s loss, Charlie Creme has Richmond as a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s Bracketology and above even the “Last Four Byes” section. The Spiders beat Fairfield, Columbia and Oklahoma State in the regular season, plus played three games against SEC teams — including top-five Texas. They should be in and easily — but there are no assurances from the committee until the selection show.
The Spiders were led by 16 points from junior guard Rachel Ullstrom, who also added three rebounds and one steal. Graduate student forward Addie Budnik scored 10 points in her final A-10 Tournament game and added five rebounds, one assist and four blocks.
Senior guard Katie Hill talked about the message in the locker room after the game being to not let the fact the team didn’t win another A-10 tournament championship overshadow their memories of the season.
“We have another opportunity to win some games in the postseason, and we just need to keep in mind everything else that we’ve done as well and accomplished this season,” she said.
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The game plan is simple for George Mason: win
The Patriots are playing in their first conference tournament championship game since 2004, when the program was in the CAA.
“When you come to any school as an athlete, you come and say you wanna help this team win a championship,” graduate student Nalani Kaysia said. “And I don’t wanna speak for both of us, but I know that me and [Paula Suárez] have been through it all here, growing the program. So it just feels amazing that we can leave a legacy, and we have the chance to leave a legacy here.”
George Mason took control of the game late in the first quarter and maintained it throughout the game. The team led by as many as 18 and did not let the Wildcats get closer than the seven-point halftime margin after the break.
The Patriots were led by 16 points from redshirt sophomore forward Zahirah Walton, who also added five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kaysia (11 points, nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and three blocks) and senior guard Paula Suárez (13 points two rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block) also scored in double figures.
Kaysia highlighted that playing their style of play while preventing their opponent from doing the same is their game plan for every game. For Suárez, the game plan for the championship is simple: stay hungry for 40 minutes.
Head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis’s game plan is even simpler: “to win.”
“I think we met St. Joe’s again at the same time when we met Davidson, when we were just without Kennedy Harris — actually, I think that was her first game back — and we just weren’t ourselves,” she said. “We just hit a patch in the season where we just weren’t playing well.
“But I think the difference now is there’s a lot of energy now. We have a singular focus, and we’ve made it to the game where we want to win a championship. And it’s hard saying that at the beginning of the season; it’s a lot of work that has to go into it. But to be right here, be on the precipice of doing something that has never been done, I think that’s all the energy we need. It’s good that we faced this team twice because now we kind of have an idea of tendencies.”
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Davidson hopes to continue its season in the WBIT
In her opening statement, head coach Gayle Fulks said she wouldn’t trade her team or the process they went through and that message continued throughout the postgame press conference.
“I’m in Year 18 of being in college coaching and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said. “And it’s who they are as people, it’s how they care for each other. It’s how unified they are with me. … They’re a joy to be around. …
“I just can’t think of another group I would want to do anything with. I mean, just to go through the hard times, to go through the great times, every day, it was awesome. And it [doesn’t] mean that there weren’t challenges along the way, but it never really felt like anything we couldn’t overcome, and it’s because of the character of who they are, and [I] just couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Davidson was led by sophomore guard Katie Donovan’s 16 points. She also added five rebounds and one block. Junior guard Charlise Dunn was the only other Wildcat to reach double-figures, recording 14 points, four rebounds and one steal.
Senior guard Issy Morgan talked through tears about the impact that Fulks has had on her over the last four years.
“She leads by example, and she means every single word that comes out of her mouth,” she said. “And I don’t think you find that kind of authenticity very often. And she’s the most authentic person I know. She’s so incredibly passionate about what she does. … The way she pours into the people around her is something that I’m gonna take with me wherever I go.”
Davidson hopes to play in the WBIT but will have to wait until Selection Sunday to learn if its season will continue.
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Written by Natalie Heavren
Natalie Heavren has been a contributor to The Next since February 2019 and currently writes about the Atlantic 10 conference, the WNBA and the WBL.
