George Washington University Athletics
GW Looks To Regroup Sunday Against Rhode Island
2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2009
GW vs. Rhode Island Notes | | GW All-Access
WASHINGTON, DC - George Washington hosts Rhode Island at Charles E. Smith Center Sunday at 2:00 pm looking to bounce back from having its season-best six-game win streak snapped Wednesday. The Colonials have won 14 straight games in the all-time series and are undefeated in 18 previous meetings at Smith Center against the Rams. GW has won 33 of its last 37 A-10 regular-season games dating back to Feb. 2006.
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GW lost for the first time in seven games and had its 17-game A-10 home court winning streak snapped with a 55-49 loss to Richmond Wednesday night. It marked the first time the Colonials were swept in the teams' annual home-and-home series since the Spiders joined the A-10 for the 2001-02 season. Senior Yolanda Lavender hit all nine of her foul shots and scored a game- and season-high 15 points, followed by freshman Tara Booker's near double-double of 10 points and nine boards. It was GW's second-worst shooting effort of the season at 30.2 percent on 16-of-53 shooting.
The Colonials won a pair of meetings against the Rams last season - a 48-45 comeback road victory Jan. 16 in which former standout Kimberly Beck scored 23 of GW's 30 second-half points, and a 70-43 rout in an A-10 quarterfinal matchup March 8 at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse in Philadelphia. Nine players scored, led by Jessica Adair's 12 points, as the second-seeded Colonials held the 10th-seeded Rams to 31 percent shooting to make their sixth consecutive A-10 semifinal.
While GW has struggled with a 3-6 mark on the road this season, it continues to enjoy the comforts of Smith Center, where it has won 38 of its last 42 games overall and is 77-4 versus league foes during the regular season the past decade.
Over the past four games, GW has connected on 31-of-76 three-point attempts (40.8 percent), highlighted by a season-best 11 triples at Dayton Jan. 28. In the six games prior to that hot streak, GW hit just 22-of-93 shots from deep (23.7 percent). Antelia Parrish (11-23) and Tara Booker (10-19) have hit all but 10 of the Colonials' 31 threes during the stretch.
Rhode Island (9-13, 2-5 A-10) has dropped its last two home games against Saint Joseph's (69-61) and Massachusetts (70-53) to fall into a three-way tie for 10th place in the A-10 standings with the Hawks and Minutewomen. The Rams' two conference wins have come against the league's bottom two teams, La Salle and Fordham, while their three other conference losses have come at the hands of three of the top teams in Xavier, Charlotte and Temple.
Senior Sierra Cooper has recorded five double-doubles so far this season and leads the team in scoring (11.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg). Sophomore Megan Shoniker is the only other Rams' player who averages double-figures at 10.7 ppg and leads the Rams with 36-of-103 shooting from beyond the arc. URI ranks last in the A-10 in field goal defense (.436), three-point shooting (.266) and three-point field goal defense (.354) and is next to last in field goal shooting (.374).
