Final Result: GW loses in the final minutes to VCU 65-56.

GW’s Starters: Engel, Lewis, Reynolds, Mott, and Sierra-Vargas. The 1st quarter started slow for GW, and VCU raced out to a quick 6-0 lead before a pair of Lewis free throws put GW on the board. A quick pair of 3’s by the Rams pushed the lead to 12-2, forcing a GW timeout with 7:15 to play. After the timeout, GW got better offensively and was able to shut down the VCU offense in the final moments of the quarter, and trailed by just 3 points 19-16 to start the 2nd period. The teams battled evenly to open the quarter, with VCU increasing the lead to 31-27 with 4:04 left before halftime. The back and forth continued and a VCU buzzer beater staked them to a 37-36 lead going into the break. Grace Hutson led VCU with 11 points, and Asare and Zoli Khalil each scored 10 points, while GW was led by Engel with 9 points  and Lewis with 8 points. Both offenses slowed to start the 3rd quarter, but GW managed to take the lead at 43-41 at the 4:57 media timeout. Multiple poor GW offensive possessions led to VCU transition opportunities and a parade to the foul line, allowing them to regain the lead at 53-49 going into the final 10 minutes of play. Offensive woes continued for GW, who only managed 4 points in the first 5:03 of the final quarter. At the media timeout, VCU led by a 59-53 score. Despite holding the Rams scoreless for 5 minutes, GW could not cut into the lead as they only managed 2 free throws during that period and a VCU spurt at the end of the game increased the margin of victory in a 65-56 win. Khalil led the winners with 21 points, followed by Asare with 18 points. Parham had 11 boards, including 6 offensive rebounds. For GW, Lewis and Reynolds tallied 13 points each, and Engel chipped in 11 points.

GW struggled mightily when they needed scores late in the game and ended up forcing some bad shots. Although not a polished offensive team, VCU was just quicker at every position and got to most of the 50/50 balls and long rebounds. Despite outshooting VCU in the game (38.9% to 38.2%) and making only 11 turnovers, numerous GW poor offensive decisions and questionable shots led to transition opportunities for VCU, and they cashed in with a 15-2 advantage on fast break points. Also contributing to the loss was another bad free throw shooting exhibition (8-16). Engel and Calisto played well, and Lewis did standout for portions of the game. Otherwise, the current rotation is baffling. Sierra-Vargas, who is not exceptionally adept at ballhandling or a scoring threat, started, and played 31 minutes. Reynolds scored 13 points, but missed 10 shots (1-6 from beyond the arc) and played 32 minutes. Meanwhile Calisto, who led the early comeback, played only 21 minutes, and Lewis, who played her best game in recent memory, only logged 22 minutes. Andrews, although only a shell of her former self of late, was in only 20 minutes despite her big game scoring potential. What’s the rationale? Rotation discussions aside, there have been signs of individuals’ improvement, but still, there’s a lack of offensive cohesion and on-court presence that's so badly needed. 

Things just get tougher with George Mason at EagleBank coming up next. Another opportunity for improvement. 

dmvpiranha wrote:

McCombs needs to start winning some games, especially when they are at home. Finding small positives each game in year 4 isn't where GW WBB should be as a program. Not looking forward to getting demolished again by Mason and their whiny coach.

do we miss Rizzotti yet? At least in her first four years you got meaningful postseason basketball and a pair of championships
 

Last edited by Steve Urkel (1/24/2025 3:00 pm)

Agree with Poog - Rizzotti benefitted from Tsipis players. Definitely do not miss her along the sidelines. McCombs may have the edge in recruiting, but it's very close when it comes to the coaching. This team's execution is just so bad - especially out of timeouts when the team looks clueless. Maybe I overrate the talent every year but it feels like everyone underperforms under McCombs. Even the Mia/Jayla year should have led to a postseason appearance in some tournament but somehow it didn't.

Poog wrote:

Steve Urkel wrote:

dmvpiranha wrote:

McCombs needs to start winning some games, especially when they are at home. Finding small positives each game in year 4 isn't where GW WBB should be as a program. Not looking forward to getting demolished again by Mason and their whiny coach.

do we miss Rizzotti yet? At least in her first four years you got meaningful postseason basketball and a pair of championships
 

Did you say that? With holdover Tsipis players, GW tied for 1st and lost 1st round games in the A-10 and WNIT tourneys in year 1 and finished 5th in the conference but won the A-10 tourney and then lost badly to Ohio State in the 1st round of the NCAA’s in Rizzotti’s year 2. In year 3 GW finished 8th and lost 1st game in A-10 tourney and improved to finishing 7th and losing their 1st tourney game again in year 4. In her final year 5, GW finished 10th and went 1-1 in the A-10 tourney. So no, we don’t miss Rizzotti yet nor the way she trashed the program on her way out. Props to Mayowa, Faith, and Essence for sticking around despite the failures of the program during Rizzotti’s tenure.

I see you referencing championships in that argument so we'll agree to disagree. I value championships. Rizzotti delivered one (two if counting reg season title). Who cares what players it came with? 

Trashing was deserving. She had a legitimate gripe getting hamstrung in a covid year

Last edited by Steve Urkel (1/27/2025 12:33 pm)