The GW women’s basketball team lost a hard-fought battle to the No. 15-ranked University of Virginia Sunday night in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, two nights after the Colonials won their season-opener against the University of Delaware. GW senior guard Corrin Reid and freshman center Ugo Oha led the Colonials off the bench over the weekend. The Colonials (1-1) will play Washington State University Nov. 25 at the Coca-Cola Classic at Rutgers University.

Virginia 72 , GW 66Sunday, Nov. 12

The No. 15-ranked Virginia Cavaliers defeated visiting GW 72-66 Sunday night in the second round of the WNIT. The Colonials struggled from the perimeter, especially from behind the three-point arc, where GW shot 2-of-12 (.167). Reid and Oha led GW’s offense, scoring 16 points each off the bench. The Colonials found themselves down 36-28 at halftime, due in part to a strong outside performance from Virginia’s Telisha Quarles (17 points). Four Virginia players posted double-digits in scoring, and the Cavaliers made the most of GW’s mistakes by scoring 21 points off Colonial turnovers.

GW 78 Delaware 56Friday, Nov. 10

The GW women’s basketball team used its size to knock around the University of Delaware Friday night at the Smith Center in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The Colonials also used their bench to score key points in a 78-56 victory.

After the loss, Delaware head coach Tina Martin said the Colonials’ size wore her team down but it was GW’s depth that beat them.

(GW coach Joe McKeown) just keeps putting in one player after another, Martin said. Their depth is incredible.

McKeown tapped his productive bench early in the game. GW came out perhaps overcharged and was playing a bit sloppy with rushed passes and shots. The Colonials were losing 6-0 less than four minutes into the game.

McKeown called a timeout. He inserted Reid and Oha, and both flourished. They combined for 29 points and Oha recorded a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in her first college game, making up for the lackluster play of starting center Elena Vishniakova.

It was a different team after that timeout. Right away GW scored when senior Petra Dubovcova (12 points) hit a lay-up after catching a pass all alone underneath the basket from senior Kristeena Alexander. Alexander (15 points) drilled a quick three-pointer after a Delaware turnover and suddenly it was 6-5 with an obvious momentum shift.

Within three minutes GW pulled ahead 12-8. They would go on an 18-2 run in the next six minutes with Reid hitting two three-pointers.

Alexander said Reid was the team’s spark, describing her play as needed.

She penetrated when she needed to and made my job a lot easier, Alexander said.

Martin said GW used its big players to draw fouls, which forced Delaware to play hesitantly. The Colonials forced fouls on three starting players in the first half.

In the second half the Colonials came out and again went with shooting from the outside, balancing it with a stronger inside game that saw frequent passes inside to Dubovcova and Oha, who were always fighting for position.

McKeown said the game plan would be to pound the ball inside. While Delaware had four players taller than six feet, GW had eight, including four players taller than 6-foot-3. McKeown said he wanted to utilize his team’s size by getting the ball to bigger players like Dubovcova, Oha and Vishniakova. Vishniakova was off and at times lost scoring only three points in 27 minutes.

(Vishniakova) hasn’t played a game in almost two years, McKeown said. If you saw her in practice you wouldn’t recognize her.

The Colonials largely relied on last year’s makeup with guards making shots. The Colonials were 25-of-56 in shooting (.446). The Fighting Blue Hens had a .288 shooting percentage and were led by guard Cindy Jones, who had 31 points and played all 40 minutes.

The Colonials pressed most of the game and forced 27 turnovers, but were out-rebounded 42-40.