Game 51: Women at St. Joseph's

The #17/16 women's team travels to Philadelphia, PA to face St. Joseph's (14-12, 6-5) this afternoon at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. GW (21-5, 9-2) is coming off of an 82-58 home win over Saint Louis on Wednesday night. In that one, three Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Kimberly Beck (23 points, four assists), Sarah-Jo Lawrence (19 points, five assists), and Whitney Allen (17 points, four steals). GW shot 20-30 (66.7%) from the field in the first half and led 52-26 at intermission.

The Hawks, who were picked to finish sixth out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, return one starter from the squad that went 19-14 and lost to Coppin State in the opening round of the WNIT. St. Joseph's has two players averaging double figures in scoring: 6-3 freshman center Sarah Acker (12.3 points, 8.7 rebounds per game this season) and 5-8 senior guard Timisha Gomez (10.9 points, 3.8 rebounds). Coach Cindy Griffin is 125-90 in seven seasons with the Hawks; she is 173-123 in 10 seasons as a head coach.

St. Joseph's is coming off of a 63-60 home loss to Temple on Wednesday night. The Hawks led by six with 2.43 to play, but the Owls scored the final nine points of the game to narrowly avoid the upset. In that one, three St. Joseph's players reached double figures in scoring: Gomez (21 points, seven rebounds), 6-3 sophomore forward/center Ashley Logue (10 points), and 6-1 sophomore forward Brittany Ford (10 points, four rebounds). The Hawks are 1-2 against ranked teams this season; they beat #15 Auburn 71-69 on December 29, and lost to #5/6 Rutgers 56-50 on November 28 and to #21/22 Wyoming 66-64 on December 8. St. Joseph's has lost two of its last three games and is 6-5 at home.

This is the 48th-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 22-25. The last meeting came in Cincinnati, OH in the semifinals of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Tournament on March 4, 2007, which the Hawks won 57-55. In that one, three Colonials reached double figures in scoring: Jessica Adair (15 points, 10 rebounds, three steals), Beck (15 points), and Lawrence (11 points, eight rebounds). However, #8/9 GW blew a 12-point halftime lead and lost in conference play for the first time that season. St. Joseph's is the only A-10 team to hold an edge in head-to-head meetings with the Colonials. GW has won four of the last five meetings in the series. The Colonials have won five-straight at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse and are 11-10 all-time at St. Joseph's.

The pick here is for the Colonials to get a tough road win.

Paul Marmaro and I have the call for WRGW with Steven Smith handling production duties. You can listen here starting at 11.40 a.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 23 of its last 25 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...GW is 7-3 on the road and 8-4 away from the Smith Center this season...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 81 consecutive games...This is the 300th career A-10 regular season game for coach Joe McKeown...McKeown is 21-13 all-time against the Hawks and 6-3 against Griffin...Griffin is 3-6 against McKeown and GW...The Colonials are 4-1 on Sundays, 12-0 when holding opponents under 60 points, and 12-0 when scoring at least 70 points.

Starting lineups and other notes to follow from Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse once we get closer to tip-off.

Update, 7.27 p.m. - Here were the starting lineups:

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)

St. Joseph's
G - Jenna Loschiavo (5-7 junior from Plymouth Meeting, PA)
G - Mary Kate McDade (5-8 junior from Philadelphia, PA)
G - Timisha Gomez (5-8 senior from Elkridge, MD)
F - Ashley Logue (6-2 sophomore from Philadelphia, PA)
C - Sarah Acker (6-3 freshman from Nanticoke, PA)

Tough 61-53 road win by the women over a pesky Hawks squad. Jessica Adair had a monster outing, pouring in 20 points to go along with four rebounds and four steals. Parrish had a pair of huge back-to-back threes when St. Joseph's threatened in the final minutes, and the Colonials escaped with a road win despite the fact that Lawrence and Beck combined to shoot just 4-19 from the field.

At 10-2 in conference play, the three-way tie atop the A-10 standings between GW, Temple, and Xavier carries into the final week of the regular season. The good news for the Colonials is that if things stay as they are, GW would get the top seed in the conference tournament by way of the tiebreaker procedure: since each of the three teams split its season series with the other two, it then goes to their records against the next-best team in the standings. Dayton and Charlotte are currently tied for fourth; all three teams in the tiebreaker beat Charlotte, but Temple is knocked out when it gets to the Flyers by way of a 62-49 loss on January 12. Therefore, only the Colonials and Musketeers remain, and GW gets the nod because of the head-to-head win on January 13.

Just two games left in the regular season for the women. We'll be back on Wednesday night when they travel to Richmond to face the Spiders. As always, thanks for stopping by.