Rhode Island Starters
Cairns, Squires, Touré, Hattix-Covington, Lassiter

VCU Starters
Griffith-Wallace, Lewis-Eutsey, Hutson, Walters, Parham

How it Happened
Rhode Island used a suffocating defense to methodically pull away from VCU Sunday afternoon. Rhody won 63-31 for its 12th consecutive victory.

Rhody did not allow VCU to score more than nine points in any quarter. The 31 points was both a season low for any URI opponent, and it was VCU's low mark for the season. Rhode Island held VCU to 24.1 percent (14-of-58) from the floor, 8.3 percent from the arc (1-for-11) and just 2-for-4 at the free throw line.

URI (21-3, 12-0 Atlantic 10) held VCU to just 8-for-29 from the floor, allowing just eight points in each of the first two quarters. Rhode Island had a modest 7-4 lead midway through the opening quarter when the second unit extended the lead to double digits with a 7-0 run. Sophie Phillips drained a 3-pointer, Emmi Rinat scored on a drive to the basket and Tenin Magassa added a pair of free throws to make the score 14-4. VCU (7-17, 4-8 A-10) used a 4-0 spurt to close within 14-8 by the end of the quarter.

VCU got the first bucket of the second quarter, but URI responded with five unanswered points on a 3-pointer from Madison Hattix-Covington and a layup from Emma Squires to get the lead back to 19-10 and force a VCU timeout. Neither team found extended rhythm the rest of the half, with each side hitting occasional baskets. Rhody led 26-16 at the half.
 
The dominance continued in the third quarter, as Rhody outscored VCU 16-6 in the period to put the game away. URI held a 42-22 led heading to the final period, and the advantage only grew from there.

Inside the Box Score

• With its victory, Rhode Island clinched a double bye and a top three seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
• The 12 wins in a row is the second longest win streak in program history. Rhode Island is one shy of the program record, which was set last season.
• VCU did not attempt a free throw until 7:34 remaining in the game. It's lone 3-point basket came with 1:50 to go.
• Graduate transfer Madison Hattix-Covington had a strong return to the Siegel Center, scoring a game-high 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
• She played 121 games over four seasons for VCU before transferring to URI.  
• Junior Dolly Cairns was the only other player to reach double digits. She had 11 points and was 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
• Sophomore Emmi Rinat had eight points, four rebounds and three blocked shots.
• Rhode Island bench outscored the VCU bench 27-11, including a 12-0 edge in the first half.
• Junior Tenin Magassa had six points and six rebounds in a season-high 18 minutes. …
• Rhode Island had a 40-32 edge on the boards.

What's Next
Rhode Island hosts Massachusetts on Thursday, Feb. 16. Game time is 6 p.m. on ESPN+.