Boxscore

RICHMOND, Va. -- Quanitra Hollingsworth and Kita Waller each scored 16 points for Virginia Commonwealth as the Rams defeated the University of Delaware women’s basketball team 68-45 in Colonial Athletic Association play on Sunday afternoon at the Siegel Center.

The Blue Hens (8-8, 0-5 CAA) are now off to their first ever 0-5 start in conference play in any conference they have competed in dating back to the 1982-83 season.

“We are what we are right now,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. “We’re a young team, and VCU is a veteran team, and they took it to us. What we have to do is continue to get better.”

VCU (14-3, 4-1 CAA) outrebounded Delaware 52-28 and outscored the Hens in the paint 20-12. Hollingsworth and Waller were dominant on the boards with 12 and 11, respectively. The Rams shot 45.5 percent from the field and 73.7 from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Delaware shot just 31.1 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free-throw line.

Delaware took a 2-0 lead to start the game on a Vaness Kabongo (at right) jumper in the first minute of play. Kabongo, who led the Hens with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals, would tie the score at four with another jump shot, but the Hens would trail the rest of the way after D’Andra Moss’s layup put the Rams up 6-4 at 17:15.

The Rams utilized an inside-out style of play that featured the three-point shooting of La’Tavia Rorie and Waller and the post-up play of Moss, Courtney Hurt and Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth finished the half with nine points on 3-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. She also had eight rebounds by the end of the half - five of them offensive.

Also in the first half, Moss had eight points and six rebounds, Rorie was 2-of-2 from behind the arc for six points, and Waller scored seven points. The Rams took their largest lead of 13 points into the intermission, up 33-20.

The Blue Hens came out in the second half with a sense of urgency, going on a 9-4 run to start the second stanza and cut the lead to eight points. Freshman guard Jocelyn Bailey, who made her first career start on the day and scored nine points and grabbed five boards, started things off by following Eva Riddick’s miss with a lay-up in the opening minute.

Freshman center Jasmine Gibson (five points in nine minutes of action), Riddick, and Kabongo each put in two-point baskets and Bailey made one of two free throws, and suddenly the lead was down to eight points, 37-29 at the 16:51 mark. That would be the closest Delaware would get the rest of the way.

The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes before freshman guard Meghan McLean, who made her second consective start, hit a three-pointer near the 11-minute mark to cut the VCU lead to 11.

But the Hens would then go without a field goal for 6:18. All the Hens could manage during that drought was one free throw by Gibson as they shot 0-6 from the field and turned the ball over four times in that span. VCU capitalized on that drought by going on a 10-1 run and extending the lead to 20 before Bailey stopped the bleeding at 4:43 with a jumper.

By then it was too late to mount a comeback, and VCU cruised to its ninth home victory of the year and earned head coach Beth Cunningham her 95th all-time victory at VCU - the most in school history.

Delaware will fly south to take on its next CAA foe, UNC Wilmington, on Thursday night at 7 p.m.