This post was written by Senior Staff Writer Neil Sharma

With 5:03 remaining in the first half of the women’s basketball team’s game Saturday afternoon against Stony Brook, Seawolves senior Kristen Jeter hit a jumper to cut GW’s lead to 10 points at 28-18. That basket, just 15 minutes into the game, would be the closest Stony Brook would come to catching the Colonials for the rest of the game.

After Jeter’s basket, GW went on a 26-1 run that lasted until the 17:23 mark of the second half, giving the Colonials more than enough offense to earn the 69-49 win.

The Colonials (5-4) had their best game of the season shooting the ball against the Seawolves, shooting 50 percent from the floor. GW’s 69 points were also a season-high.

“We hadn’t done anything different to the offense, of course a little tweaking,” head coach Mike Bozeman said. “But it’s all about the players, all about the execution of the offense. It’s all about putting the players in the places where they can be effective, and then getting the timing right. I just think the timing was great today, and they executed a lot better.”

All 11 players that dressed for the game for GW scored Saturday. Juniors Tara Booker and Kye Allums led the Colonials with 11 and 10 points, respectively, but it was the entire team, not any individual player, that shone against Stony Brook.

“I was very happy. That’s basically the system,” Bozeman said. “[The system] makes everyone on the defensive end guard have to guard individual that’s on the court, and then we get openings. We just want to take advantage of what the defense gives us, always moving, always putting the defense on their heels so to speak, and keep them off balance.”

For a game that wound up as lopsided as it was, the two teams played relatively even for much of the first half. Neither team was able to build a double-digit lead within the first 10 minutes of the half, but a combination of GW’s hot shooting and lock-down defense helped blow the game open in favor of the Colonials. GW was especially strong in the paint, scoring 28 points inside. The Colonials also made 19 of 16 free throw attempts.

The GW defense held Stony Brook to 30 percent shooting for the game, and GW was able to capitalize on its stops, scoring 29 points off of turnovers. The Colonials lead grew to as high as 35 at points during the second half, but a 13-3 Seawolf run helped Stony Brook shrink the deficit.

The win had added significance for the Colonials as a bounce-back game after a 60-35 loss at Old Dominion last Wednesday night. Booker said she and her teammates took lessons from the team’s worst loss of the season and translated them into Saturday’s performance.

“Coach always says the most important game is the next one,” Booker said. “So after last game we took our lessons from there, and we just came out [today] and put what we learned from that game.”

GW is a month into its season, and will begin conference play in mid-January. Bozeman believed this was a good time to reflect on the season so far, and evaluate the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I think our overall skill is pretty high. I think the mental toughness part of putting together two halves for an entire game [is the weakness],” Bozeman said. “I think if we face challenges, if we’re not shooting well, then us doing the other parts that makes us a skillful team, that’s where we’ll get our improvement from, along with – always – the effort.”

The team will suit up for it’s last home game of the calendar year this Wednesday, as they face non-conference opponent Auburn. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.