The GW women’s basketball team could not follow last weekend’s sweep against Xavier and Dayton at the Smith Center as the Colonial women split two road games.

In a quirk in the schedule, GW traveled to play the same Xavier and Dayton teams it soundly defeated just one week ago. Although GW handled Dayton again, Xavier avenged last weekend’s 99-64 Smith Center loss.

GW (16-7, 10-3 Atlantic 10) returns for its final regular season home game Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Rhode Island.

Xavier 68, GW 56

It was not a sweet Valentine’s Day for the Colonial women as Xavier took revenge for last Sunday’s 35-point loss by defeating GW in Cincinnati.

The Colonial women took a 2-0 lead to start the game. But after a Xavier basket that tied the game and two free throws by sophomore forward Taru Tuukkanen, GW never saw the lead again.

Tuukkanen was the Musketeers’ leading scorer with 22 points and also grabbed eight rebounds. GW senior forward Noelia Gomez led all scorers with 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field while tallying nine rebounds. But her teammates gave Gomez little offensive help.

GW guards Marlo Egleston and Kristeena Alexander scored nine and eight points, respectively, but shot a combined 5-of-20 from the field. Junior guard Elisa Aguilar, GW’s second-leading scorer, missed her third game with an ankle injury. GW earned last weekend’s blowout win without Aguilar.

GW cut a 22-10 lead down to a 26-21 by halftime. The Colonial women narrowed the lead to four, but never got any closer.

The Colonial women stayed a half game ahead of Xavier (19-6, 10-4 A-10) in second place the A-10 West Division despite the loss.

GW 77, Dayton 52

Noelia Gomez and Petra Dubovcova combined for 45 points in the Colonial women’s 77-52 victory over Dayton.

A key factor was GW’s inside game, which led the Colonial women to outscore Dayton 40-18 in the paint. The Flyers’ starting front court shot a combined 3-of-17 from the field and committed 13 of Dayton’s 32 turnovers for the game. Gomez and Dubovcova pulled down a combined 13 rebounds and turned the ball over just five times.

The Colonial women shot 52 percent from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range. They also outscored Dayton 21-6 over the first six and a half minutes of the second half and held their largest lead of 30 points at 71-41 with 5:26 remaining.

“We missed some early (scoring) opportunities, and that hurt,” Dayton head coach Jaci Clark told the Dayton Daily News. “If you can’t keep pace on the offensive end, you’re in trouble.”

-Fred Sakai contributed to this report.