George Washington University

March 5, 2010

Box Score | Postgame Interview - George Washington

UPPER MARLBORO, MD - The No. 11 seed George Washington women's basketball team nearly pulled off the only upset of the 2010 Atlantic 10 Championship First Round, but No. 6 seed Duquesne escaped The Show Place Arena with a 61-58 overtime victory Friday night. It marks the second straight season GW's season ends with an overtime loss.

GW, which lost to Florida Gulf Coast, 97-94, in double overtime in the first round of the 2009 Postseason WNIT, had three clean looks at a game-winning basket in the final 12 seconds of overtime with the score 59-58, but sophomore Tiana Myers' baseline jumper went long and redshirt freshman Brooke Wilson and rookie Shi-Heria Shipp both missed put-back attempts.

Carly Vendemia made two free throws with five seconds left for a 61-58 edge and Myers failed to get a shot off as the Colonials bowed out of the A-10 first round for the second straight season.

Freshman Megan Nipe made 4-of-6 three-pointers and matched a career-high with 18 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Sara Mostafa added 14 points and seven boards before fouling out with 14.1 seconds left in regulation. Sophomore Tiana Myers chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds, but struggled with 3-of-16 shooting in 42 minutes.

Keri Pryor netted 14 points to pace Duquesne (20-11), which advances to Saturday's quarterfinal against No. 3 seed Temple at 8:00 pm. Alex Gensler and Vanessa Abel contributed 11 apiece, followed by nine from Samantha Pollino and eight from Vendemia.

GW trailed 48-41with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, but Nipe hit two 3-pointers during a 12-3 run over the next four and a half minutes to grab a 53-51 lead at the 1:43 mark. Myers matched two Pryor free throws with cutting layup set up by one of Shipp's six assists for a 55-53 edge, but Pryor and Abel made the back-end of free throws with 45 and 14 seconds to play, respectively, to pull even at 55-55.

Able made up the missed foul shot by forcing a turnover on Myers with 5.1 seconds after the Colonials had called timeout to set up a play. Abel couldn't convert on a drive though to force the A-10 Championship's first overtime game since 2004.

The Dukes jumped ahead 59-55 just over three minutes into the extra session when Nipe knocked down her final triple to move within 59-58 with 1:43 showing. Following two misses at the line by Gensler, the Colonials had a golden opportunity to take the lead, but Shipp missed a driving layup after shedding her defender. Abel missed on the other end and head coach Mike Bozeman asked for timeout with 19.1 seconds. GW swung the ball around the perimeter for Myers' corner jumper, which bounced long to Wilson. Her fading one-hander was rebounded in the lane by Shipp, but her shot hung on the front of the rim and Vendemia was fouled on the rebound.

GW overcame a 30.8 percent shooting performance by posting its best defensive effort of the season, limiting Duquesne to 30.0 percent. The Colonials owned a 49-38 edge in rebounds, the fourth time in their final five games they held the advantage.

The Colonials' slow-start trend continued as, after scoring the games' opening points on a pair of foul shots, they allowed 10 unanswered and a 13-2 run during which the Dukes knocked down three consecutive three-pointers. In its final three regular season games, GW was outscored by a total of 27-0 to begin the contests.

Yet despite a 9:03 field-goal drought to open the game, GW stemmed the tide with free throws and managed to pull within a possession of the lead on three occasions. The Colonials failed to convert any of those opportunities, including a pair of three-point attempts at 21-19 which would have given them the lead.

Half-court pressure from the Dukes led to four straight points, but Megan Nipe floated in a baseline jumper with nine seconds left to make it 25-21 at the half. Nipe made 3-of-5 shots for seven points and four rebounds in the first half, while the rest of the team went 3-of-21 from the field.

GW played the final 20 games of the season with just eight available players - five freshmen and three sophomores - and finished 6-22 overall.