George Washington University Athletics
GW Opens A-10 Play At Richmond Saturday Night
1/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2009
GW at Richmond Notes 
| | Live Video
RICHMOND, VA - George Washington women's basketball begins its 26th season of Atlantic 10 Conference play Saturday night at 7:00 pm at Richmond, a team it has beat five consecutive times and in 16 of the last 17 meetings. GW is 20-5 all-time in A-10 Conference openers, including a streak of 10 consecutive victories dating back to Dec. 1998.
Fans can follow live stats via or can watch live video streaming by subscribing to Richmond's SpiderTV.
GW (7-7, 0-0 A-10) is in the midst of a three-game losing streak, its longest such streak since dropping four in a row during the 2002-03 season. That same stretch during the 2002-03 season also marks the last time GW lost three consecutive true road games.
Ironically, the Colonials snapped that road skid with a 55-49 victory at Richmond Jan. 7, 2003, the second game of an eventual 11-game winning streak for a team that would lose only twice more the remainder of the season, finish 15-1 in league play, win the A-10 Tournament title and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
GW stumbled in its first regular-season trip to the state of Texas in more than a decade, dropping a 78-59 decision at No. 3/3 Texas A&M Jan. 3 and losing 78-68 at Rice two days later to fall to 0-5 in non-conference road games this season. Senior Jessica Adair scored a season-high 26 points - three off her career-high - to help the Colonials whittle a 16-point deficit to four late in the game against the Owls. Sophomore Erica Rivera also stepped up during the trip, averaging 12.0 points and five assists in 26.5 minutes during the two games.
Richmond (12-3, 0-0 A-10) is off to its best start in four seasons at 12-3 and capped its non-conference schedule with a convincing 45-33 victory over 25th-ranked Wake Forest at Robins Center Tuesday night. The Spiders' victory over the No. 25 Demon Deacons was their first over a ranked opponent since Feb. 2006 and first over a non-conference ranked opponent since defeating No. 18 Maryland, 79-69, in Nov. 1990. Neither UR (29.5%) nor Wake (25.5%) shot above 30 percent and both teams combined for 56 turnovers and 1-for-20 shooting from three-point range, while Brittani Shells (11 points), Nikita Thomas (10) and Crystal Goring (10) were the only Spiders with more than four points in the victory. The backcourt duo of Shells and sixth-player Johanna McKnight combine for nearly 27 points and better than four steals.
