Game 49: Women vs. Saint Louis

The #17/16 women's team hosts Saint Louis (10-15, 5-5) tonight at the Smith Center. GW (20-5, 8-2) is coming off of a 63-60 loss at St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. In that one, four Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Sarah-Jo Lawrence (20 points, six rebounds), Kimberly Beck (12 points, five rebounds, seven assists), Jessica Adair (11 points, nine rebounds), and Antelia Parrish (11 points). After trailing by 20 points at intermission, GW rallied to take the lead with 3.23 to play in the second half. However, the Bonnies closed the game on a 7-0 run to pull off the upset.

The Billikens, who were picked to finish ninth out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, return four starters from the squad that went 13-17 and lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Saint Louis has three players averaging double figures in scoring: preseason Third Team All-A-10 selection 5-9 sophomore guard Theresa Lisch (17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds per game this season), 5-9 sophomore guard Katie Paganelli (12.3 points), and 6-4 sophomore center Amanda Kemezys (10.6 points, 7.9 rebounds). Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller is 30-52 in her third season with the Billikens.
Saint Louis is coming off of a 71-65 home win over Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon. In that one, three Billikens reached double figures in scoring: Paganelli (21 points), Lisch (19 points, four assists), and 5-11 senior forward Heather King (12 points, six rebounds). Saint Louis shot 5-8 (62.5%) from three-point land and forced 22 Massachusetts turnovers. The win over the Minutewomen snapped a two-game losing streak. Seven of the Billikens' 15 losses this season have come to teams currently ranked 200th or lower in the RPI (Hampton, Akron, Tennessee-Martin, Missouri-Kansas City, Texas Pan American, Chicago State, and LaSalle). Saint Louis is just 4-11 on the road.

This is the third-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 2-0. The last meeting came on February 18, 2007 in St. Louis, MO, which the Colonials won 64-47. In that one, three GW players reached double figures in scoring: Beck (16 points, four rebounds, six assists, three steals), Lawrence (16 points, four rebounds, three steals), and Adair (11 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks). Lisch led the Billikens with 14 points, but the Colonials held Saint Louis to just 17-53 (32.1%) shooting from the field. In the only previous meeting at the Smith Center on February 6, 2006, GW triumphed 84-46.

The pick here is for coach Joe McKeown's squad to get back on track tonight.

Adam Rosenbloom and Ben Sugarman have the call for WRGW with Max Smith and Ben Toder handling production duties. You can listen here starting at 6.40 p.m.

Game notes: Beck is believed to be the only player in Division I women's basketball history to have at least 1,300 points, 600 assists, 300 rebounds, 200 steals, and 60 blocks in her career...Beck is the only A-10 player ever to do so...Beck currently leads the conference in assists...She is looking to become the 11th player in Division I women's basketball history to lead her conference in assists for four-straight seasons...GW has won 11-straight at home and is 12-1 at the Smith Center...The 11-game home winning streak is the ninth-longest in the nation...The Colonials have won 13-straight home conference games dating back to a 67-63 loss to Richmond on February 19, 2006...The current senior class is 27-1 at the Smith Center in regular season conference games...The current senior class is 52-5 at the Smith Center...Through 13 home games, the average home attendance for the women has been 1,909...This would break the program record of 1,637 from the 1995-1996 season..The current senior class has only lost back-to-back games twice...The first time was in December 2004, as GW lost 64-40 at Oregon on December 4 and 76-70 at BYU on December 6...The second time was in November, as the Colonials fell 80-55 at James Madison on November 27 and 62-61 against UNLV in New Orleans, LA on November 30...GW has won 22 of its last 24 regular season A-10 games...The Colonials have won at least 20 games in each of the last nine seasons and in 17 of the last 18 years...Adair needs one block to enter the top five in program history...GW has been ranked for 34-straight weeks in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, a program record...The Colonials dropped three spots in both of this week's national polls...GW has made at least one three-pointer in 80 consecutive games...The Colonials are 2-1 on Tuesdays, 11-0 when holding opponents under 60 points, and 11-0 when scoring at least 70 points...GW is 3-1 coming off of a loss...Saint Louis is 3-15 all-time against ranked teams...The Billikens have lost eight-straight against ranked teams...The last win came over #20 DePaul in overtime by a score of 73-71 on January 24, 2003...Lisch is the sister of Kevin, who is a standout on Saint Louis' men's team.

Starting lineups and other notes to follow from the Smith Center once we get closer to tip-off. Paul Marmaro will be live-blogging tonight, so please check back later.

Update, 6:50 p.m. - Here are tonight's starters:

Saint Louis
G - Hayley Leake (5-6 senior from Silex, MO)
G - Theresa Lisch (5-9 sophomore from Belleville, IL)
G - Katie Paganelli (5-9 sophomore from Cincinnati, OH)
F - Heather King (5-11 senior from Palos Hills, IL)
C - Amanda Kemezys (6-4 sophomore from Fairview Heights, IL)

GW
G - Kimberly Beck (5-8 senior from Fairburn, GA)
G - Sarah-Jo Lawrence (5-11 senior from Rhoadesville, VA)
F - Whitney Allen (5-11 senior from Woodbridge, VA)
F - Antelia Parrish (6-0 junior from Washington, DC)
C - Jessica Adair (6-4 junior from Washington, DC)

Update, 7:03 p.m. - Starters are being introduced. Your officials tonight will be Dennis DeMayo, Roy Gulbeyan, and Bonnie Pettus.

Update, 7:05 p.m. - GW will be defending the 23rd street basket. The Colonials are in their white uniforms with buff and blue trim while the Billikens are in blue jerseys with white trim. The tip is up and won by GW.

Update, 7:10 p.m. - After two quick baskets by Whitney Allen, Theresa Lisch, sister of SLU men's basketball player Kevin Lisch hit's two straight 3 pointers as they jump out to an 8-6 lead with just over 3 minutes gone by.

Update, 7:13 p.m. - At the first official time out, SLU leads GW 10-8. Both teams are on fire from the field, SLU has not missed going 4-4 while GW is an impressive 4-6. Whitney Allen leads GW with 6 points on 3-3 shooting and Theresa Lisch is leading the way for SLU with 6 points on 2-2 shooting from beyond the arc.

Update, 7:16 p.m. - GW is currently on an 8-0 run in the last 2:00 and SLU coach Shimmy Gray-Miller calls timeout. With 12:43 to go, it's 18-12 GW.

Update, 7:19 p.m. - At the 2nd official timeout, GW has their biggest lead of the game at 8 as they lead 20-12. Whitney Allen is leading the way for GW with 8 points while Theresa Lisch is leading the way for SLU with 6 points.

Update, 7:25 p.m. - On the floor for the Colonials: Beck, Lawrence, Allen, Jazmine Adair, and Jamila Bates, a 6'1 Jr Forward from Seattle, Wa averaging 1.3 ppg. Theresa Lisch just hit a long 2 point jumper breaking a 12-0 GW run. It's now an 18-2 run and with 9:30 to go, it's 28-14 GW.

Update, 7:27 p.m. - Wholesale substitutions for GW as they have Jessica Adair out there with Beck, Bates, Parrish, and Erica Rivera, a 5'8" Fr. guard averaging 1 ppg.

Update, 7:30 p.m. - At the under 8:00 official timeout, GW has built an 11 point lead, 30-19 Colonials with 7:56 to go in the 1st half. The leading scorers for both teams are a combined 9-9 from the field. Lisch has 13 of the team's 19 points on 4-4 shooting, 3-3 from beyond the arc, and 2-2 from the charity stripe. Whitney Allen has taken Lisch's 4-4 and raised it to 5-5 from the field to lead the Colonials with 10 points.

Update, 7:34 p.m. - GW has been scoring at will, they are 14-18 from the field for an astonishing 78% and now leads 34-24 with 6:26 left. SLU hasn't faired too poorly going 57% or 8-14 from the field.

Update, 7:36 p.m. - After back to back "And 1's" GW is out to their biggest lead of the game at 40-24 with 5:22 to go in the opening half.

Update, 7:41 p.m. - At the last official timeout of the half, it's been all GW, 42-26 with 3:28 to go in the half. Theresa Lisch leads all scorers with 16 points but is no longer perfect from the field unlike GW's leading scorer, Whitney Allen who has 12 points on 6-6 shooting. Sarah-Jo Lawrence has 11 points on 4-5 shooting.

Update, 7:44 p.m. - GW is looking for a 20 point halftime cushion. When they have such a lead at the half, they are 4-1 with a lone loss to UNLV and wins over Loyola Marymount, Brown, Charlotte, and Richmond. It's looking pretty good as the Colonials lead 48-26 with 2:22 left.

Update, 7:47 p.m. - Coach McKeown did not like the offensive set up by his team so he called a timeout with 1:45 to go in the half and whatever he said must have worked as Beck hit a mid-range jumper and the Colonials now lead 50-26 with 1:15 to go. GW is 16-1 when leading at the half.

Update, 7:50 p.m. - The Colonials had their way with the Billikens in the first half as they register their season high in points for any half this year with 52. Their previous season high for a half was 51 against Brown. We're halfway done here at the soon to be renovated Smith Center with a score of 52-26. I'll be back later with some jaw-dropping stats from the first half.

Update, 8:06 p.m. - The 2nd half is underway with the Colonials defending the 22nd street basket and moving from left to right on your computer screen. Like the first half, SLU scores the first basket of the half but still trail by 24, 52-28 just over 1 minute into the half.

Update, 8:10 p.m. - GW leads by 25, 56-31 with just under 17 minutes left in the game. One alarming stat I promised you at halftime but waited because GW has missed a few more, they are 0-9 from beyond the arc and 22-30 from deuce land. That's 0% and 73%.

Update, 8:12 p.m. - At the first official timeout of the half, the Colonials lead by 23, 56-33. Because it is the first official timeout of the 2nd half, it's time for the Pita-Pit dance contest. It's a good one tonight, featuring a nice older woman in a red sweater and an unenthusiastic student. The winner is the old woman and her "twist" has just earned her some free Pitas.

Update 8:16 p.m. - Taking a look at other events going on tonight in the sports world, Jason Kidd and Shaquille O'Neal are making their debuts with their new western conference teams as Kidd joins Dirk and the Dallas Mavericks tonight and Shaq joins Steve Nash and the Suns as they take on who else, but his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Update, 8:19 p.m. - Coach McKeown calls timeout with his team leading 61-33. A few members of the men's basketball team, winners of 2 of 3 are in attendance tonight including Wynton Witherspoon and former player Regis Koundjia. Whitney Allen has a new career high tonight of 17 points.

Update, 8:22 p.m. - At the 2nd official timeout of the half, GW leads 61-37 with 11:56 to go. GW has also set a new attendance record as they have surpassed the 1996-97 season total of 25,344. Good crowd on hand tonight on both sides of the court and it's nice seeing so many students come out to cheer on their top 20 women's basketball team.

Update, 8:28 p.m. - I mean seriously, it's not fair. Tiger Woods is just too good. He was down 3 strokes through 13 holes today to J.B. Holmes in the first round of the Accenture Match Play championship before taking holes #14, 15, 16, and 17, an eagle on the last one, and advancing to the 2nd round. In Foggy Bottom, it's 63-41 Colonials with 9:08 left in the game.

Update, 8:31 p.m. - Whitney Allen and Kimberly Beck are leading the way for GW with 17 points each, with Sarah-Jo Lawrence pitching in 13 points. At the 3rd official timeout, it's 66-41 GW with 7:46 to go.

Update, 8:32 p.m. - The Spurs have traded Francisco Elson, Brent Barry, and a 1st round draft pick (for SA, normally in the late 20's) to Seattle for big man Kurt Thomas. It's the Wild Wild West this year in the Association.

Update, 8:37 p.m. - 39 days until opening day at Nationals Park. It will be the Atlanta Braves and your Washington Nationals on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

Update, 8:41 p.m. - Spring training drama brewing in Boston. Would you rather have Coco Crisp starting in Centerfield or Sophomore sensation Jacoby Ellsbury? If Crisp loses the starting job, he said he'll pursue a trade. Nothing new at Smith Center, GW leads 76-52 at the last official timeout. 3:35 to go in this one and the only thing in question is the final score.

Update, 8:43 p.m. - As of right now, GW, Xavier, and Temple are all 8-2 at the top of the A-10 standings, GW will move to 9-2 in 3:35 and hold the tie-breaker over Xavier but do not have it against Temple due to their 2 point loss to the Owls earlier this season.

Update, 8:49 p.m. - Does anyone think Sportscenter's "Greatest Highlight" segment is a sad attempt at turning old stories into new stories? A lot like the failure of "Who's Now", this Greatest Highlight won't solve anything because in the Bay Area, it's Cal/Stanford THE BAND IS ON THE FIELD!!, in Pittsburgh, it's the Immaculate Reception, in Queens, it's Buckner-Wilson. This solves nothing. There's NHL, NBA, College Hoops, NFL combine, and UEFA cup soccer going on right now. Who really cares about Christian Laettner?

Update, 8:50 p.m. - With just over a minute to go, it's 80-58 GW as the Colonials will win their 12th straight home game. GW hasn't lost a home game since the Rutgers debacle.

Update, 8:51 p.m. - It's a final at the Smith Center as the Colonials breeze to an 82-58 victory over the Billikens and at 8:51 eastern time on February 20th, Joe McKeown has won his 503rd game.

Update, 8:58 p.m. - There's a drawing now for the 6th spot in this spring's housing selection for next fall. That's all I have to say. Good night, good luck, and tonight's forecast calls for cold weather so remember to bundle up like Sven.