GW Women take A-10 Regular Season Title

Posted Sunday, February 25 2007 05:55:43 pm

By: Alex Byers
Senior Sports Writer

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty either. But the GW Women’s basketball team managed to squeak by Temple Sunday to earn itself an Atlantic 10 regular season title. The Colonials are champions for the fifth straight year, on the back of a 56-53 victory on senior Kenan Cole’s last game at the Charles E. Smith Center.

GW’s win was its 18th consecutive, and earned the Colonials an undefeated A-10 record. It was also GW’s 13th triumph at home this season, and marked the third time in program history that the Colonials have gone undefeated at home.

“This team is special because it’s the ultimate team. It’s a great balance and there’s great chemistry. There’s no one player out there averaging 20 points a game,” GW head coach Joe McKeown said after the victory.

Leading GW from the start was junior guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence, who scored her team’s first 11 points and went on to finish with 19.

“(Lawrence has) got the best first step in our league, she’s really explosive,” McKeown said of his guard. “It’s like an onslaught. She’s shooting the ball with much better arc now.”

The two squads traded baskets for much of the second half, and GW maintained a strict three-point lead. Temple’s Lakeisha Eaddy broke the streak, however, robbing Lawrence as she looked to take the ball up the court. Eaddy made the layup to put the Owls down by just one.

Colonial Whitney Allen’s rebound and reverse layup soon after seemed to give life to the Colonials fan base, but Fatima Maddox’s 3-pointer with roughly three minutes remaining tied the game at 50.

After a Cole two-pointer and Jessica Adair free throw put GW up 53-50, Temple had a chance to make the game closer. Lady Comfort’s layup was offline, however, and the Colonials picked up the rebound.

On the ensuing possession, Beck brought the ball down the floor and controlled play at the top of the key. After a spin move to the left, Beck let fly a floating jump shot that hit its target, giving GW a five point lead and causing the Colonials’ faithful to erupt into euphoria.

Kamesha Hairston’s 3-pointer with six seconds left brought her team within a basket, and after a missed GW free throw, the Owls had a chance to even the score. Comfort’s fullcourt pass with three seconds left found Maddox, who in turn handed the ball to Hairston for a last second shot. Hairston’s attempt fell just short, though, and time expired on the Smith Center clock.

The Owls shot 36 percent from the floor, and hit just 9-of-19 attempts from the free-throw line. Maddox led the Owls’ with 17, and both Hairston and Comfort had a staggering 13 rebounds each.

GW hit 40 percent of their attempts, and got offensive help from across the roster. Whitney Allen had 8 points and Jamila Bates came off the bench for 7 points of her own. Jessica Adair led on the boards with eight rebounds.

McKeown stressed the importance of the Temple match-up after the game.

“The last couple years the Temple rivalry has become a really good one. Us and them have kinda separated our selves from the rest of the league. It was a hard fought game.”

Sunday was also senior day, and GW’s lone senior Cole was honored prior to tip off.

Another standout number on the stat sheet was the attendance. 2002 fans showed up for the Sunday tangle, GW’s highest home attendance total this season.

“It was fun today because the students came out, and that was really exciting for me,” McKeown said. “That was gratifying today more than anything else.”

Though GW can now call itself A-10 regular season champions, Temple’s Hairston made a striking point in the postgame press conference.

“We’re still the A-10 champs,” Hairston said, referring to Temple’s win over GW in last year’s A-10 tournament championship.

The Colonials will start the postseason on Saturday, March 3 at the Cintas Center at Xavier University. As No. 1 seed, they will play the winner of a match-up between the No. 8 La Salle and No. 9 Dayton at high noon.