On the road with the Colonials: Day four

It's gameday. Months of practices and games have all led up to this day, which begins with an eight a.m. breakfast for the team. Everyone will then get on the bus at 9.15 a.m. to make the 15-minute drive to Maples Pavilion.

More to follow after breakfast. Please check back then.

Update, 8.19 a.m. - Well, if you were concerned about the early start time's impact on the team, don't be. Everyone was wide awake and in good spirits at breakfast. More to follow from Maples Pavilion.

Update, 10.09 a.m. - The team departed the hotel with a big send-off by the Colonial Brass and the cheer team (picture to the left). The 15-minute bus ride over to Maples Pavilion was quiet, as most players had headphones on.

The new most awkward moment of the week took place when the bus pulled into the arena. The Auburn band, thinking it was the Tigers' bus, lined up in front of the vehicle and prepared to play their fight song. When the GW coaching staff saw this, they told the players to get off the bus first. Needless to say, the Auburn band was extremely confused.

Time to get to work, as tip-off is less than an hour away. We'll try to get one more update up before then. Just a reminder that you can listen to the game here starting at 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Update, 1.34 p.m. - It's a joyous locker room as the Colonials beat Auburn 66-56, winning in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight year. After being held to just one field goal in the final six minutes of the first half, GW picked up the pace of the game after intermission and embarked upon a 28-12 run to close the contest. The Colonials will face either third-seeded California or 14th-seeded San Diego in the second round on Monday at either five p.m. or 7.30 p.m. Pacific Time. The team is now spread around Maples Pavilion watching the Cal-USD contest.

In the postgame press conference (pictured to the left), McKeown talked about his team's desire to win as the deciding factor in the game. The media session just ended, so I'm going to get to work on transcribing everything that was said. Please check back in a little while.

Update, 2.36 p.m. - I posted this in the game thread, but here are some notes from today's contest:

-Beck's seven assists move her into a tie for the single-season GW record with 197. During the game, Beck also moved into second place in program history in steals with 293 for her career.
-GW is now 13-2 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
-Adair recorded her 12th career double-double, but just her second of the season. The other came against against South Dakota State on November 23.

I'm still sitting in the media room (picture to the left) working on transcribing the audio. I was a couple minutes late to the press conference because we were wrapping up our postgame show, so I'm waiting for the on-site NCAA staff to issue the official release.

Update, 4.05 p.m. - We're all back at the hotel in Santa Clara. The only thing on tonight's itinerary is dinner somewhere in the city. Here are the highlights from the postgame press conferences:

McKeown's opening statement: "(Auburn) proved today that they deserved to be in this tournament. We were a little jumpy in the first half. We were just excited to play in the tournament. We have a lot of seniors, and I felt we just needed to settle down. I thought in the second we did a much better job. I thought the last six or seven minutes we really played well and kept our composure. It was a tough, hard-nosed game, and that is what you would expect from this tournament and Auburn."

McKeown on halftime adjustments: "I thought in the second half, everyone started to step it up. We were much more aggressive at pushing the ball. Their zone was tough and they stayed in their zone. They wouldn't get out of it. We just had to keep getting the ball inside out, keep reversing the ball. I thought Whitney made some big plays behind their zone and Antelia made big plays in fromt of the zone, and that opened things up for Jessica."

Whitney Allen on guarding DeWanna Bonner: "In the second half we just locked down and tried to stay between her and the basket. She's a long and tall player; I think she has three inches on me. I just made sure I stayed in between her and the basket and tried to use my strength as a positive. I sat on her a lot. Don't let her get the ball, she can't score: that was my thinking."

Jessica Adair on rebounding: "Without rebounds, this game could have turned the other way. There comes a point in the game when you know something is going wrong, and you have you take control of that, and I think that is what we did."

McKeown on the play of Parrish and Allen: "We got double-whammied in December when they missed five games with injuries. Antelia was really playing well, and I just think that that time really hurt them. Antelia is somebody who can stretch a game out and just change the way people have to play defense. I'm really proud of her for the way she played tonight. Hopefully, Monday night she will start drilling threes at the end of the game. That's my challenge for her, and she's capable. I'm just really proud of the way she plays defense and the toughness she brings to the table, and I'm glad she will be back next year."

Auburn coach Nell Fortner's opening statement: "I thought we fought really hard today, we just couldn't really knock down some shots in the second half. I thought GW is a fine basketball team, and they just overpowered us in the second half. I was proud of how hard we played, but you have to knock down shots, and we just hit a period of time there where shots weren't dropping for us, and they made a pretty good run at us."

Fortner on GW's defense of Bonner: "Bonner has been playing big for us all year long. Game in and game out, she has been giving us everything she's got. I really think in the second half she was tired. She played 40 minutes and GW is a physical team, and it was a matter of getting tired at a key time, and I thought they denied her the ball pretty good. I thought it was a great defensive effort by GW."

Bonner on GW's defense: "I agree with coach: I think how many minutes I played counted. They were very physical with all five of us on the floor."

Fortner on the rematch with the Colonials: "It was helpful because we had seen them before. They are a very physical defensive team. They're very tough and they had a big post presence inside, and I think we were pretty much outmatched inside. I thought we were trying to do some things to try to affect their post players, and we did at times. But in the end, I think it wore us out. They do a great job in that matchup zone denying and playing it like a man. I think they're a very good basketball team."

That should be it for tonight. The team is practicing from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. at Stanford tomorrow, followed by a media session from 1.50 to 2.20 p.m. I'll be back then.

Update, 10.52 p.m. - Just found out that GW will tip-off against California at five p.m. Pacific Time on Monday.