George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Defeats Arkansas, 83-71
1/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Aguilar Leads All Scorers With 31 Points
FAYETTEVILLE, AR (Jan. 3) -- Senior all-America Elisa Aguilar scored 31 points to lead George Washington over Arkansas, 83-71, tonight in Bud Walton Arena. The win was the eighth-consecutive for GW, who improved to 10-2 on the season.
Aguilar's 31 points led all scorers and was a season-high for the guard. Aguilar was 6-13 from three-point range as the Colonials shot 10-22 (45.5%) from three-point range for the game. Aguilar also added six assists.
"Aguilar showed why she's one of the premier guards in the country," said GW head coach Joe McKeown. "She's worked very hard to come back from her off-season ankle surgery, and she's beginning to hit her stride now. I think she's ready to explode and be one of the dominant players in college basketball."
Freshman guard Cathy Joens came off the bench to score 16 points and grab six rebounds. Freshman forward Erica Lawrence scored 10 points, and senior forward Starr Jefferson pulled down 10 rebounds.
GW used a 13-2 run midway through the first half to open up a close game and take a 22-12 lead on an Aguilar three-pointer with 11:22 to play in the period. Arkansas (9-3) trimmed the GW lead to 28-25 with Brandi Whitehead's pair of free throws at 6:22 in the first half. After pushing the lead back to eight points, GW held a 36-32 advantage.
GW scored the first two baskets of the second half to take a 40-32 lead, but Arkansas countered with a 9-2 run to cut the GW lead to 42-41 with 16:16 left in the game. GW answered with a pair of treys from Aguilar and another three-pointer from freshman Cathy Joens to expand the lead to 50-41 with 14:52 remaining.
Dana Cherry hit a bucket for Arkansas with 13:37 to cut the GW lead to 50-43.Once again, GW answered the Lady Razorback challenge with a 10-2 run, and took a 58-43 lead on a 12-foot jumper by junior center Leslie Carlson with 10:30 remaining in the game.
Arkansas tried to reel GW back in, Loniya Bragg connected on a driving layup with 49 seconds remaining to cut the GW lead to 76-69. Aguilar made three of four free throws in the last minute to thwart the comeback bid, and freshman Lindsey Davidson added a three-pointer at the buzzer to provide an exclamation mark and the final score.
"The key to the game was our balance and total team effort," said McKeown. "We moved without the ball tonight the best we have all season. We were able to pass, penetrate find open people and create shots. Arkansas is a tough place to play, and we kept our poise and showed composure against a team that deserves to be ranked in the top-25. I'm very proud of the way we played tonight."
GW outshot Arkansas 48.4% (30-62) to 39.3% (22-56) for the game, and outrebounded the Lady Razorbacks 38-34 in a physical game.
GW returns to action Thursday night with a 7:00 pm game against Duques
