George Washington University Athletics
GW Visits A-Sun Champs FGCU in WNIT First Round
3/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 18, 2009
WNIT Media Guide vs. FGCU 
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FORT MYERS, FL - The George Washington women's basketball team opens play in the 2009 Postseason WNIT with a first round match-up at Florida Gulf Coast and Alico Arena Thursday night at 7:00 pm. The Colonials, at-large bid recipients from the Atlantic 10, will face the Atlantic Sun regular-season champion Eagles for the first time.
>GW makes its third trip (1993, 2002) to the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) and advances to postseason play for the 10th consecutive season and 18th time in the last 19 years.
>GW is 1-4 in its three previous Postseason WNIT appearances - losing all three of its games in the precursor NWIT in Amarillo, TX, in 1993 and reaching the second round of the 2002 event. GW's complete WNIT history can be found on Pg. 2 of Game Notes.
>The Colonials have also qualified for the NCAA Tournament 15 times (1991, 1992, 1994-98, 2000, 2001, 2003-08), reaching the Sweet 16 in 1995, 2007 and 2008 and the Elite Eight in 1997.
>GW is one of a record five Atlantic 10 programs to participate in the 2009 WNIT. The Colonials received an at-large bid along with St. Bonaventure, Duquesne and Dayton, while Richmond earned the league's automatic bid. The 14-team A-10 also put three teams into the NCAA Tournament to boast a record eight postseason programs.
>The Colonials faced a total of 15 teams set to participate in the postseason, posting a 6-10 mark against eight NCAA teams and seven WNIT teams (NCAA - Tennessee, Auburn, Rutgers, Texas A&M, Villanova, Xavier, Charlotte, Temple; WNIT - Coppin State, Kentucky, Hartford, Richmond, Duquesne, Dayton, St. Bonaventure).
>The Colonials are coming off a 62-58 loss to 12th-seeded Rhode Island in the first round of the A-10 Championship March 6. The loss marked GW's earliest exit in the league postseason since 1985. Senior Jessica Adair had a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double - her sixth of the season and 18th of her career - and freshman Tara Booker added 13, but the rest of the team shot just 9-of-37 from the field.
>GW senior center Jessica Adair has shined in postseason play, notching three double-doubles and averaging 12.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in eight career NCAA Tournament games. In GW's 2007 NCAA First Round victory over Boise State, Adair had 15 points and 21 rebounds - tying the fourth-highest rebound total in tourney history.
>With 17 victories, Mike Bozeman set a new program record for most victories by a first-year head coach, breaking the previous mark of 16 held by Linda Makowski (1986-87) and Maureen Frederick (1977-78). Saint Joseph's Cindy Griffin holds the A-10 record with 24 in 2001-02.
>With a victory over FGCU Thursday, the Colonials will make the roughly two-hour trek north to Tampa, FL, to face South Florida in the second round Saturday at 7:00 pm. GW's possible road through the WNIT would be a long one, as due to the recent start up of renovations at Charles E. Smith Center, it will not be able to host any game during the event. The Colonials will travel approximately 1,000 miles to battle the Eagles Thursday, the second-longest first-round trip for any team in the WNIT field (UC Riverside at Creighton - approx. 1,600 miles). GW is 4-8 on the road this season, while FGCU is 14-1 at Alico Arena.
Florida Gulf Coast, winners of 16 straight games, is 25-4 overall and captured the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title with a 17-3 league mark. The Eagles, however, are in the second year of Division I reclassification and ineligible to compete in the A-Sun or NCAA postseason. FGCU became the first team to reach the WNIT in its first year as a D-I program by earning last year's A-Sun automatic bid and topped South Florida, 67-65, to advance to the second round.
The Eagles won their first 34 games and reached the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2007, the year prior to their move to D-I. Junior Adrianna McNally, the team's leading scorer at 14.4 ppg, is the only holdover player from that squad, although current graduate assistant coaches Chelsea Dermyer and Kate Schrader were members of the 2007 NCAA D-II runners-up. FGCU's 12-player roster boasts nobody taller than 6-feet, but the Eagles compensate with deadly outside shooting to the tune of 9.3 three-pointers per game at a 38.6 percent rate.
