For the first time since 1993, the GW women’s basketball will play its final two home games at the Smith Center. The team is heading into the homestretch, literally. On Thursday the women host St. Bonaventure and on Sunday they host Rhode Island. The Colonials will use these games to prepare for the Atlantic 10 Tournament, held March 2-5 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
While both teams pose little threat to GW’s standing in the A-10, head coach Joe McKeown said the competition will hold nothing back to defeat GW.
“Teams like St. Bonaventure are going to come in ready to play,” McKeown said. “It’s a big game for them and for us, too. We don’t underestimate and we respect everyone. They know the tradition we have at GW and are fired up to try and beat us.”
St. Bonaventure (7-18 3-11 A-10) has never beaten the Colonials. But senior guard Kristeena Alexander said that would not matter come game time.
“If we don’t play well they’ll beat us,” Alexander said. “They’ll have their game on Thursday. Records don’t matter at tip off.”
The Colonials (18-8, 12-2 A-10) are on a tremendous run, winning 11 of their last 13 games. When they win, it is with a combination of strength inside, balanced scoring and tough defense. On Friday the Colonials forced 25 turnovers against Massachusetts and held the team to 41 points.
“Any time you can hold a Division I team in the 40’s it says a lot for your efforts,” McKeown said.
GW presents a similar plan of attack for St. Bonaventure and URI. Both teams are small and lack a major scoring threat, and GW will use its height to force opponents to shoot over towering defenders.
“We’re the biggest team in the league. We have to use that advantage,” McKeown said.
On offense GW will go inside to freshman Ugo Oha and senior Petra Dubovcova, a game plan that has worked well for the Colonials many times.
Against URI Sunday afternoon, the Colonials will rely on their depth and height inside to take advantage of a smaller URI (11-15, 4-10 A-10) team.
“Teams like URI, you don’t hear a lot about their post players, but we still have to make sure we play above them,” Alexander said.
Perhaps even more threatening than the Colonials’ height advantage is their balanced scoring. Five players average in double figures, a luxury that allows even a star player to have a bad night without consequence.
“That’s when you’re hard to play against,” McKeown said.
The Colonials success this season is even more impressive given that the team has five freshmen and junior-transfer Elena Vishniakova, who was ineligible last season.
“Our main goal was to play our best basketball in March and we accomplished that,” McKeown said. “You want to play your best basketball at the end of the season, and we are. So many teams hit the wall now, because the college season is so long. But the good teams kick it into another gear and get excited, and you just hope that happens to your team. I think this team can’t get enough basketball. They have a lot of heart.”
