Posted by xAC  3/01/2023 5:31 pm | #1 |
Next up: Duquesne University Dukes
Time: March 2, 2023; 5 PM
Venue: Chase Fieldhouse; Wilmington, DE
2022-23 Record: 18-11
OOC Record: 10-3
A10 Record: 8-8
Tournament Seed: 9th
Broadcast: ESPN+
After defeating 15th seeded Loyola University Chicago (LUC) 58-57 in the 1st round of the A10 tournament, the 9th seeded Dukes take on the 7th seeded GW Colonials on Thursday at 5 PM at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington, DE. 6’4” Precious Johnson came off the bench to lead the way for Duquesne with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Tess Myers and Ayanna Townsend each added a dozen points, while Megan McConnell (2nd Team All A10 selection) chipped in 11 points and 8 boards.
GW won the regular season matchup against Duquesne at the Smith Center 58-52 in a defensive brawl where neither team could get any offensive rhythm.
About the game:
GW managed to eke out a victory in the regular season despite shooting only 27.9% from the field. That kind of offensive output is unlikely to be sufficient in this matchup. In that contest, Duquesne was 1-29 from 3-point range, something that is also highly unlikely this go-around. Although GW was able to contain the Dukes’ high scoring backcourt of McConnell and Myers, Duquesne was able to counter on the inside with their front court to amass 34 points in the paint.
GW’s defense will have to again limit the Duquesne backcourt and try to prevent the front court from dominating the inside, which will be more difficult if Brown continues to be unavailable. Regardless, the offense has to play much better than it has in recent games to win this game. In the first meeting, Lakstigala and Robertson combined for 36 points, but they did not have much help beyond that. With Lok in a starting role, Robertson (A10 6th Player of the Year) is the only reliable scorer coming off the bench. In order to win, the coaches will have to figure out how to manufacture more offense from the current lineup. One more double figure scorer (perhaps Taiwo or Lok) would be significant against this Duquesne team.
At 17-11 overall and 9-7 in conference play, GW earned the 7th seed and a first round bye. GW will have fresh legs and a lot of motivation to win their 18th game and move on to the quarter-finals. Any kind of a letdown will leave us at 17-12 for the season, which is still a very successful record given what we’ve endured the past few seasons. Good luck, Colonials!
Last edited by xAC (3/01/2023 6:29 pm)
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Posted by BC 3/02/2023 6:57 pm | #2 |
GW ekes out a victory 71-68 after letting Duquesne
e back in the game.
Last edited by BC (3/02/2023 6:58 pm)
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Posted by xAC 3/02/2023 7:20 pm | #3 |
GW secures a date with URI with a last second victory over Duquesne 71-68.
1st Quarter: Both teams came out in sync on offense and went back and forth to an 11-11 at the first official timeout. Duquesne was hitting their 3’s and GW did a good job inside the paint. After the timeout, the Dukes took advantage of their size inside leading to 7 points for Townsend, GW had continued success driving to the basket and closed out the quarter with a 20-19 lead. Brown was back in the lineup, a good sign for GW. Lakstigala finished with 10 points in the quarter.
2nd Quarter: The Colonials rode their defense to take a lead at the start of the period, but a pair of transition 3’s by the Dukes cut the lead to 29-27 at the 4:08 mark. After the timeout, there was more back and forth with GW taking a 36-33 lead into the half. At this point, Lakstigala had 13 points and Innis adds 6 points to lead the way for GW. Townsend and McConnell scored 10 apiece for the Dukes.
3rd Quarter: Play started to get ragged, but both teams played very hard. GW was able to maintain their 3-point lead halfway into the 3rd quarter. Tenacious defense and a scoring spurt by Lok helped to advance GW’s lead to 58-49 entering the final period. Lok had 11 points in the quarter.
4th Quarter: GW's offense unraveled and quickly let Duquesne back into the game. After a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 60-59, GW was forced o take an early timeout. From that point the teams battled back and forth until Lakstigala nailed a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to seal GW’s 71-68 victory.
This was a well-played game by both teams from start to finish. Unlike the first game, both teams shot reasonably well. Rebounding was the difference in the game. GW snatched 15 offensive boards, including Taiwo’s tip out to Lakstigala that led to the game winner. The rebounds led to a 15-1 advantage in second chance points that kept the Colonials in the game until Lakstigala’s decisive shot. Lakstigala finished with 24 points and was 6-10 from distance. Lok was the hero of the game. She was all over the court finishing with 20 points on 8-10 shooting and grabbing 8 big rebounds. Taiwo played all 40 minutes against a really tall front court and managed to grab 12 rebounds, 6 on the offensive glass.
Credit the women for keeping their composure and playing tough against opponents who appeared to be taller and stronger at every position. The Duquesne offense scored a lot of points in transition after missed shots. When they were forced to run their offense against the clock in the half court, they were not nearly as successful. Hopefully the coaches take note of that.
At 18-12 GW has exceeded everyone’s expectations, but they’ll still be looking for revenge against URI and will be going in the game to win. Let’s go Colonials!
Last edited by xAC (3/02/2023 7:34 pm)
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Posted by dmvpiranha 3/02/2023 11:39 pm | #4 |
Survive and advance. A win is a win. Was hoping for one win against Duquesne/Loyola and we got that. Mia came through yet again and bailed us out of a game that was slipping away for much of the fourth quarter. I have no expectations tomorrow against URI but am hoping it's at least a bit more competitive than the last meeting.
Asjah had a solid game and some good takes to the basket early in the game, but twice during crunch time the play drawn up was for her to drive to the basket and shoot a layup over three Duquesne players? GW played well for three quarters, but the last quarter reverted back to no passing which got the Dukes back into the game and gave them the lead late. Scoring over 70 was definitely a success though.
Mia not making any of the all-conference teams made absolutely no sense. How does a team that finished top-half in the conference not have a single player on that list? Glad she proved everyone wrong today. That's not to mention the fact that Nya Robertson earned rookie of the week once all season. Ziegler is a good player for St. Joe's but it seemed like they just handed her the award for 80% of the year. There were definitely weeks where it should have gone to Nya.
Speaking of Nya, it was interesting that she didn't play late in the game. You would think it would make sense to have the biggest offensive threats on the floor down the stretch, but I guess McCombs decided to prioritize seniority. It's not right or wrong, just interesting. Robertson had an off game shooting which hopefully means a bounce-back tomorrow.
This team has overpeformed at times offensively despite not having a true PG. There is definitely a role for Asjah/Nya R moving forward but hopefully we land a true PG that can move the ball consistently on offense otherwise there will continue to be stagnant stretches on offense where we try to go 1-on-5 in isolation.
Mayowa didn't have the biggest scoring game, but was so good on the glass and on the defensive end that contributed to the winning effort. I worry that she will be neutralized tomorrow on the boards against a taller Rhody team but it was good to see her do her thing today.
Nya Lok's offensive rebounding has been huge all season and has led to a number of second chance points. She obviously had a big one to tie the game late. Happy to see her play a big role offensively to offset an understandable off game from the other Nya.
Taylor provided some really good minutes today. Her three from the corner was the difference in the game! Webster's defense was better than usual and didn't settle for shots on offense despite hitting that early three. That was huge today. Maxine had some moments defensively as well.
Good to see Essence back playing. I'm guessing she's on a minutes restriction because I assumed she would have subbed in on the last play against Duquesne to get a stop defensively but didn't. Going under the assumption that Jayla is done for the rest of the year (which is a shame because she can score in bunches with this team needs).
As for fouling up 3, I think you have to approach it differently in the women's game partly due to the fact that a timeout advances the ball to half court. With five seconds left, I was okay with not fouling there because Duquesne could have easily just gone up with the shot and gone to the line for 3 FTs. Not sure whether that was intentional by McCombs to not foul but I think it was the right move and thankfully worked out.
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Posted by The Ross-Man! 3/03/2023 4:01 pm | #5 |
I sure thought they should've fouled with the 3 point lead late, even if just right after the inbounds. The winner by Mia was especially impressive she was backpedaling when the ball was tipped back to her and then had to reverse direction for the shot. Thrilled with the win though, and playing with house money tonight
