George Washington University Athletics
GW Aims for Fourth Straight Win Thursday at Marshall
12/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
GW Notes at Marshall 
| | Live Video | Live Blog
HUNTINGTON, WV - The George Washington women's basketball team plays its second game of a five games in 11 days span Thursday night in Huntington, WV, against the Marshall Thundering Herd. The Colonials will look to avenge a 56-47 loss to the Thundering Herd in Washington, DC, in the first-ever meeting between the programs last November.
Fans who cannot make it Thursday have a number of options for following the game:
• Watch Live on Marshall's Herd Zone All-Access
• Follow live stats via
• Follow the action and submit questions via the Live Blog
Thursday's contest also marks the second contest of a four-game span in which GW completes home-and-home series with its opponent. The Colonials completed a sweep of North Texas with a home victory Nov. 21, then avenged last year's road loss at Ohio with a 54-44 triumph over the Bobcats at Smith Center Tuesday. GW lost at home to Marshall and dropped a decision at George Mason - its next opponent - last season.
GW (3-2) got a career-high 19 points from junior Tara Booker and held off a second-half charge from Ohio to win its third straight game, 54-44, at Charles E. Smith Center Tuesday night. Ohio took an early 3-0 lead, but GW countered with 15 unanswered points and never trailed again. The Colonials surged to their largest lead at 25-10 with 7:24 remaining in the half and led 29-18 at the break. The Bobcats made it interesting in the second half though, wreaking havoc with full-court pressure that led to a 19-6 run and got Ohio within a point, 41-40, with 6:16 remaining. GW responded with a 13-4 run to close the game.
At Smith Center last November, GW missed 14 of its final 15 shots and Marshall ended the game with a 17-2 run to defeat the Colonials, 56-47. GW led by six, 45-39, on sophomore Sara Mostafa's turnaround jump shot in the lane with 10:55 to play, but would not score again until 11 seconds remained as Marshall reeled off 17 unanswered points to pull away. The back-and-forth contest featured 18 lead changes, 16 of which came in the first half.
The Colonials have been solid defensively in their three victories this season, limiting opponents to 26.9 percent shooting (47-175) overall and 18.6 percent shooting from three-point range (11-59).
Marshall (1-4) plays at home in the Cam Henderson Center for the third time in four games and will look to end a three-game losing skid Thursday night. The Thundering Herd will play five of its seven games in the month of December at the Henderson Center.
The Thundering Herd have dropped three straight, most recently a 79-55 loss at undefeated Kent State Sunday. Marshall also has home losses to USC Upstate (79-73) and Ohio (54-52). The Colonials defeated the Ohio Bobcats, 54-44, in Washington, DC, on Tuesday of this week.
Despite averaging just 26.8 minutes through five games, Tynikki Crook paces Marshall in scoring (15.8 ppg), field goal percentage (.525), rebounding (7.6 rpg), blocks (1.4 bpg) and steals (1.6 spg). Lateidra Elliott has made a team-high six 3-pointers, averages 12.6 points and leads the Thundering Herd with 20 assists.
Marshall's lone victory of the season came on the road at Longwood, 62-54, in the Lancers' season-opening Classic. Dating back to last season, the Thundering Herd have lost nine of their last 10 games and 12 of their last 14.
