George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Maine
Women's Basketball Cages Bears
11/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HOUSTON, TX (Nov. 30) - Junior guard Cathy Joens missed just one shot going 8-9 from the floor to post a stellar performance against the Black Bears of the University of Maine as George Washington overcame a frigid shooting performance in the first half to top UM and advance to the championship game tomorrow in the Gene Hackerman Rice Invitational.
Joens had her second strong showing of the season after starting the year 1-10 from the field in GW's first two contests. On Tuesday, Joens broke out of her slump, netting 18 points on 5-11 shooting and 4-7 from beyond the arc against No. 2 Tennessee. Joens continued her torrid shooting tonight, hitting 8-9 from the floor, 5-6 from three-point land, to set a new career high of 23 points. Joens was one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing nine on the game.
While Joens had the hot hand, the rest of the Colonials struggled as a whole in the first half, hitting just 9-26 shots, a shooting percentage of 34.6. UM also struggled from the field going 10-30, a 33.3% clip. GW would hold a a slim one- point lead, 26-25, heading into the half.
The Colonials found their game in the second half, striking quickly with a strong defensive stand and converting on the offensive end of the floor. In contrast the Black Bears were unable to execute, scoring 10 points in 17 minutes as a team as the Colonials put 31 of their own points on the board in that span, and built a 22-point lead with 2:56 left on the clock.
UM made a desperation run in the final minutes, chipping away at GW's lead as the Colonials cleared the bench. Sophomore center Ugo Oha scored 12 points, collected eight rebounds and swatted five shots in front of her hometown crowd.
GW improves to 2-2 on the season and faces the winner of the Rice-UNC Greensboro game in tomorrow evening's championship game at 7:00 p.m. CST.
