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Atlantic 10 Conference Play Roundup: Week 1

By Natalie Heavren

RICHMOND, VA - MARCH 02: Bre Cavanaugh #11 of the Fordham Lady Rams dribbles around Alyssa Monahan #12 of the St. Joseph Hawks during the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic-10 Women's Basketball Tournament at Richmond Coliseum on March 2, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. The Billikens won 52-49. Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
RICHMOND, VA - MARCH 02: Bre Cavanaugh #11 of the Fordham Lady Rams dribbles around Alyssa Monahan #12 of the St. Joseph Hawks during the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic-10 Women's Basketball Tournament at Richmond Coliseum on March 2, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. The Billikens won 52-49. Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Rounding up the opening weekend of conference play

Results
VCU 75 – Rhode Island 54
St. Bonaventure 53 – Fordham 79
Richmond 56 – Saint Joseph’s 67
George Washington 60 – George Mason 70
Dayton 98 – La Salle 58
UMass 81 – Duquesne 77
Davidson 65 – Saint Louis 58

With the first weekend of conference play in the books Fordham, VCU and Dayton cemented themselves as the teams to beat, with dominant wins in their A-10 opener.

Saint Joseph’s, Mason, UMass and Davidson all earned hard-fought narrow victories.

VCU is looking to rebound from a lackluster nonconference slate and took the first step by defeating the rebuilding Rhode Island. VCU was able to limit Nicole Jorgensen to just eight minutes due to foul trouble, something that Rhode Island will need to try to prevent in order to win.

The Fordham-St. Bonaventure game was won and lost behind the arc. The Rams were 10-14, an astounding 71.4%, while the Bonnies were just 2-13, shooting 15.4%.

The Hawks were led by the sophomore Katie duo of Katie Jekot and Katie Maycock, who combined for 28 points on 12-19 shooting. However, the Spiders had their own scoring dynamic duo with Jaide Hinds-Clarke and Kate Klimkiewica who combined for 30 points.

Mason defeated GW for the third consecutive time, making the Patriots just the second A-10 team to defeat Jen Rizzotti in three straight games. Both teams were shorthanded, but the Colonials could not make shots when they needed to and gave up a 20-0 run during the third quarter. Mason freshman Tamia Lawhorne scored a career-high 22 points, including 12 during the pivotal third quarter.

Eleven Flyers scored in their blowout win, while the Explorers scored more than 13 points in just one quarter Saturday afternoon.

Duquesne lost by just 4 despite losing trailing by 18 heading into the fourth quarter, proving the team does not give up.

Davidson bounced back from a seven-point first quarter to outscore Saint Louis 58-39 in the final three quarters. The Wildcats were led by 25 points from freshman Suzi-Rose Deegan while the Billikens had three players in double figures, Jaidah Stewart, Ciaja Harbison and Kendra Wilken. Stewart stepped up for her team, scoring a career-high 11 points, in just her fourth game in blue and white.

However, with eight weeks left to play a lot can change in the standings.

Standings

UMass 11-3 (1-0)

Fordham 9-5 (1-0)

Davidson 8-6 (1-0)

Saint Joseph’s 7-6 (1-0)

Dayton 8-7 (1-0)

George Mason 7-7 (1-0)

VCU 6-8 (1-0)

Duquesne 10-4 (0-1)

Saint Louis 8-6 (0-1)

Rhode Island 7-6 (0-1)

Richmond 7-8 (0-1)

George Washington 6-8 (0-1)

La Salle 6-8 (0-1)

St. Bonaventure 3-11 (0-1)

Players of the Week

Player of the Week: Bre Cavanaugh – Fordham

Over two games last week Cavanaugh averaged 24.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals and zero turnovers in 36.0 minutes.

Cavanaugh won the award for the second time this season and the sixth over the course of her career.

Rookie of the Week: Suzi-Rose Deegan – Davidson

For the fourth time, this season Deegan is the Rookie of the Week tallying 25 points, a season-high 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Deegan has been impressing this season averaging 16.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28 minutes per game.

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