George Washington University Athletics
GW Wraps 2009, Decade With Rutgers at Smith Center
12/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2009
GW vs. Rutgers Notes 
| | GW All-Access
WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's basketball team hosts Rutgers in its final game of the decade Wednesday night at Charles E. Smith Center. The Colonials have posted a 227-89 overall record from 2000-2009.
Despite its best offensive output in eight games, GW (2-8) dropped its eighth straight with a 74-65 loss to Western Kentucky at Smith Center Monday. Sophomore Sara Mostafa led all scorers with a career-high 18 points and freshman Megan Nipe added a career-high 13 off the bench. The Colonials shot better than 40 percent (22-51, 43.1 percent) and scored at least 60 points for the first time in eight games. The loss was the eighth straight for GW, eclipsing the program's previous longest streak of seven set during the 1981-82 season.
The Colonials and Scarlet Knights are set to meet for the fourth time in three seasons and 37th time overall. The most recent meeting at Smith Center pitted the two highest ranked teams to ever battle in the facility with #6/7 Rutgers powering past #14/12 GW, 67-42, in Nov. 2007. The two teams then met in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 later that season and in Piscataway, NJ, last season, with RU winning both times. RU has won four straight and five of the last six in the series. GW coach Mike Bozeman is 0-1 against RU, while RU coach C. Vivian Stringer in 5-2 against GW. Rutgers has limited GW to just 43.7 points per game and 29.4 percent shooting (47-160) in the last three meetings.
GW will look to avoid its first winless December in program history. The Colonials nearly finished winless in Dec. 1988, but managed a 53-48 overtime victory at UC-Irvine on Dec. 30 to wrap the month at 1-6.
The first decade of the new millenium saw GW reach the postseason every year (eight NCAA Tournaments, two Postseason WNIT appearances), capture eight Atlantic 10 regular-season titles, win the 2003 A-10 Championship, advance to back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16's (2007, 2008) and win nearly 72 percent of its games (227-89).
Rutgers (8-5) is 10 days removed from its last outing, a 62-53 victory over Central Connecticut State at the RAC in Piscataway, NJ, Dec. 20. Wednesday's game will be Rutgers' second in 17 days.
Senior Brittany Ray was named Big East Player of the Week on Dec. 21 after leading the Scarlet Knights with 28 points in their victory over CCSU. Ray has paced Rutgers in scoring in 9-of-13 games and averages a team-best 17.2 points per game, good for fourth in the Big East. RU's well-balanced lineup features six players who average better than 5.8 points and eight players who see more than 15 minutes per game.
Four of Rutgers' five losses have come against ranked opponents (#2/2 Stanford, #16/22 Georgia, #13/14 Texas, #4/3 Tennessee), with its fifth loss coming against Atlantic 10 member Temple. The Scarlet Knights have played the nation's third-most difficult schedule according to CollegeRPI.com
