George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Beats Black Bears 57-47
12/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC - The Colonials (5-3) stretched their winning streak to three games with a, 57-47, victory over Maine (2-5) which has lost five-straight games. Junior Whitney Allen earned her first career double-double with career-highs and game-highs in points with 16 and rebounds with 13. Amazingly, 11 of her rebounds were offensive and she swiped four steals. Senior Jessica Simmonds also had a double-double making this the first two-player double-double game for GW since January 9, 2005 against Massachusetts last season.
Simmonds scored 11 points and had 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the year and eighth since joining GW. The captain was honored before the game for scoring her 1,000 career point in GW's last game. Sophomore Sarah-Jo Lawrence continued to contribute from the bench scoring 14 points and adding a career-high seven rebounds.
Kenan Cole and Kimberly Beck both played 39 minutes with Cole scoring nine points with four steals and Beck chipping in seven points with six assists. Starting freshman center Chantelle John matched her career high with six rebounds in the game's opening six minutes; she only played a minute more and did not score. This was the first game in which the freshman class did not score.
Maine entered the game averaging 64 points per game but the Colonials held them to a season-low 47 points and only 17 points in the first half. The Black Bears actually shot 50 percent in the second half but were out-rebounded by the Colonials 40-32 leading to a 17-5 GW advantage in second chance points. GW conversely, shot a season-low 33 percent from the floor. GW forced a season-high 28 turnovers, which led to 18 points.
The Colonials led for the entire first half but could never secure a double-digit lead. Maine went on a 9-2 run to open the second half and took its first lead, 26-25, on a layup from Katie Wittier with 16:25 left to play. Whittier scored a career-high 16 points including 10 of Maine's 17 first-half points. GW regained the lead, 31-30, for good at the 14:26 mark and extended the lead to 15 points before settling on a 10-point victory.
GW concludes this five-game homestand with a game against Yale on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The Colonials then take on #23 North Carolina State at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, December 30 for the last game of 2005.
