George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Upsets No. 7 Rutgers, 63-58
12/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, DC (Dec. 4) -- Junior guard Kristeena Alexander scored 11 of George Washington's final 16 points over the final five minutes of the game as the Colonials held off Rutgers and recorded a 63-58 upset of the seventh-ranked Scarlet Knights.
Alexander led all scorers with 18 points. She was perfect from the free throw line (6-6), including a critical pair with nine seconds remaining to seal the victory.
GW junior guard Marlo Egleston awoke from an early-season slump to tally 16 points on the strength of 4-6 three-point shooting and 4-4 free throw shooting. Junior forward Petra Dubovcova scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds, while junior forward Starr Jefferson tied a career-high with 11 rebounds.
Tasha Pointer led Rutgers (3-2) with 15 points on 5-7 shooting. Shawnetta Stewart recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Usha Gilmore tallied 10 points.
George Washington (3-2) jumped out to an early 11-2 lead when Egleston drained a trey 1:37 into the game. Rutgers countered with an 11-2 run of their own to tie the score at 13-13 with 8:37 remaining in the first half on a Gilmore jumper. The teams kept it close for the duration of the half, and Rutgers managed a 23-19 lead at intermission. GW shot a paltry 13% (3-23) from the field in the first half with all three field goals coming from three-point range.
Egleston hit another three-pointer with 17:09 remaining in the game to knot the score at 26-26. Rutgers tallied a Gilmore jumper and a pair of Christina Fowler free throws to grab a 30-26 lead with 16:11 remaining. GW countered with a 10-0 run to grab a 36-30 lead on a Jefferson free throw with 12:36 remaining. The Colonials slowly extended the lead, handling Rutgers' fullcourt pressure effectively if not elegantly.
Alexander hit a pair of free throws with 5:11 remaining to give GW their largest lead of the game at 49-37. Shawnetta Stewart countered with three-pointers on consecutive posessions to cut the GW lead in half at 49-43 with 4:39 remaining.
Linda Miles' free throw for Rutgers with 3:14 remaining cut the GW lead to 51-48. Alexander answered on the next posession with a trey and Elisa Aguilar sank a free throw with 2:17 remaining to push the GW lead to 58-50.
Rutgers managed to trim the lead to three when Pointer's layup with 44 seconds remaining cut the GW lead to 59-56. Dubovcova answered for GW with 21 second left on a layup after a crisp entry pass from Egleston. Pointer made a layup with 12 seconds remaining before Alexander hit the decisive free throws with nine seconds remaining.
