Megan Nipe and Danni Jackson celebrated the end of their five-year GW careers Saturday with a personal first: beating Dayton.
GW hadn’t taken down the Flyers since 2008, until the 88-79 win over the back-to-back Atlantic 10 regular season champion. The pair had never beaten two ranked teams in a season, never finished above 7th in the A-10 standings and never even notched a winning season at GW.
The win not only represented personal milestones, but marked the turnaround of the women’s basketball program with an exclamation point. The team is now set for a fourth seed going into this week’s A-10 tournament, and is on the bubble for its first NCAA Tournament since 2008.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to take these kids and get them to somewhere they hadn’t been yet,” head coach Jonathan Tsipis said.
But the turnaround hasn’t been just on the backs of Nipe and Jackson. New faces freshman Caira Washington and sophomore transfer Jonquel Jones have given the team a big lift. Jackson, Nipe, Washington and Jones scored the most collective points – 75 – that they have all season, against the top team in the conference.
GW’s top players worked together more than ever before, and they did so at the right time. Beating No. 21 Dayton secured the Colonials a double-bye in the A-10 Championship, meaning they will not play until the quarterfinals on Friday.
For Tsipis, the win showed his team becoming what he has tried to create this season – one that can take down an A-10 powerhouse.
“You get Dayton twice and you can sit there and say ‘I can’t believe we have to play Dayton twice’ or you can look at it as a sign of respect that they feel like GW is coming on,” Tsipis said.
GW’s starters, with Nipe – who started as a senior day tribute after serving as a “supersub” for Tsipis as of late – drove the team offensively more than ever before, scoring over 95 percent of GW’s points.
Washington and Jones – GW’s bigs – have traded strong games this year based on who draws more attention from opponents. On Wednesday in a loss at St. Bonaventure, Jones scored 19, while Washington just a single point off a free throw. Against Dayton, they hopped off the seesaw, as Jones put up 22 and Washington nearly matched her with 18.
Washington has said that both of them getting hot at the same time is just a matter of smart play, with Saturday featuring the most successful implementation of that all season.
Heading into the tournament, Tsipis would not say whether Nipe would remain in her starting role in place of freshman Hannah Schaible. But either way, this first time win bodes well for the Colonials, who enter with momentum and newfound respect from teams for having toppled the Flyers.
“This is a great chance for us to show not just the A-10 but the nation how we’ve progressed and how much we’ve grown,” Tsipis said. “Last year, it was ‘we won a game, now we’re going to go play Dayton, oh, maybe we have a chance of even going into the A-10 tournament.’”
“Now, I think our kids expected to walk in here and be able to compete tooth and nail with them,” he added.
