Final Result: GW extends loss streak with 57-42 defeat to St. Joseph’s Hawks.

Revs’ starting lineup: Andrews, Engel, Lewis, Mott, Reynolds. St. Joes chose to lay back and play half-court defense, and the slower pace helped GW. GW’s defense was solid and enabled GW to take an 8-4 lead into the media timeout at 4:26. GW missed 5 layups in the early going with hard drives ending up in bad shots, or the lead could have been bigger. GW’s defense held up in final moments of the quarter and they took a 13-7 lead into the 2nd period. St. Joe’s sped up the pace with token full court pressure, and got the long game going, and behind 4 3-pointers vaulted to a 23-20 lead at the 3:43 mark of the 2nd quarter. GW’s defense played well, but the offense faltered and St. Joe’s took a 29-22 lead into halftime. Ziegler led the Hawks with 9 points and Aleah Snead chipped in 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Andrews led GW with 8 points and Reynolds added 7 points. GW’s offense was stymied by Andrews’ multiple ballhandling miscues and too many wild drives to the basket by Lewis that ended up with shots slammed off the backboard. To start the 3rd quarter, St. Joe’s laid back again, and the pace slowed. GW was unable to take advantage, and the Hawks increased the lead to 37-27 with 6:09 left to go. Again, some careless GW turnovers let St. Joe’s convert some easy scores. An 11-4 Hawks run to close out the quarter staked St. Joe’s to a 48-31 3rd quarter lead. The teams managed a 6-6 tie in the first half of the 4th quarter. With St. Joe’s leading 54-37 with 5:00 to go, both defenses buckled down and St. Joe’s coasted to a 57-42 win. Zeigler finished with 20 points, followed by Snead with 16 points. Andrews led GW with 16 points and Reynolds finished with 9 points.

GW caught a break in that Brugler was unavailable. Snead really filled the void extremely well and complemented Ziegler nicely. St. Joe’s also gifted GW with their conservative defensive strategy, but sandwiched around two losing quarters, the Hawks managed to take advantage of GW’s error-prone offense and run up the score for an easy victory. GW’s half court defense was solid, and although St. Joe’s disciplined offense managed to break through on occasion, the 57 points for the Hawks was their 2nd lowest offensive output of the season. Unfortunately, too many unforced mistakes by GW on the offensive side sped up the pace for St. Joe’s and led to 19 points (33% of the scoring) off turnovers. GW’s lack of a post-up interior offense has forced greater reliance on guard play, so the guards have to do better. Besides turnovers, over dribbling and reckless drives to the basket resulted in unwanted outcomes for the transition defense. Although Andrews led the team in scoring, her domination of the ball at times was unproductive, leading to rushed and difficult shots that resulted in empty offensive opportunities. Same could be said of Lewis, who forced herself into the lane again and again, only to find herself defended and unable to finish. Reynolds has shown marked improvements of late, especially from the ball handling perspective, but has taken some questionable shots as well. Engel, who has been shooting well of late, only managed to get off 4 shots today in 30 minutes of play. The team would be better served if Engel and Calisto were better integrated into the offense.

Playing Fordham at the Smith Center on Tuesday is another opportunity for the Revs. Can they put together 4 quarters of solid basketball?