George Washington University Athletics
GW Enters Pink Zone for Saturday Showdown With UMass
2/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2011
GW Notes vs. UMass 
| | Watch Live on GW All-Access | Live Blog | Tickets
WASHINGTON, DC - The George Washington women's basketball team welcomes Massachusetts to Charles E. Smith Center Saturday at 2:00 pm for the program's fourth annual Pink Zone game to support breast cancer research. A victory Saturday would improve the Colonials to 7-4 at home this season and guarantee a winning home record for the 21st time in 22 seasons.
Fans who cannot make it Saturday have a number of options for following the game:
• Watch Live on GW All-Access - $9.95/month or $79.95/annual subscription fee
• Follow live game stats via
• Follow the action and submit questions via the Live Blog
The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Women's basketball teams across the nation are challenged to dedicate one game between February 11-20 to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Fans attending Saturday's game are encouraged to wear pink in support of the WBCA Pink Zone effort.
GW (7-16, 2-7 A-10) had its stretch of back-to-back victories snapped with Wednesday's 71-55 loss at Charlotte, a game in which the Colonials led, 27-21, at halftime. However, the 49ers scored a season-high 50 second-half points on the strength of 15 field goals and 15 free throws. Junior Tiana Myers reached double figures for the seventh consecutive game with 19 points, but no other Colonial got into double digits.
The 71 points surrendered at Charlotte Wednesday equaled the amount GW allowed in its previous two games. The 71 total points surrendered in wins over Rhode Island (53-35) and Saint Louis (49-36) were the fewest allowed in a two-game stretch since allowing 70 in wins over Fordham (66-27) and Rhode Island (70-43) in March 2008. GW has allowed opponents to shoot better than 30 percent from the field only twice in the last nine halves of play.
GW will have nine players available for Saturday's game as Kye Allums (concussion symptoms), Megan Nipe (knee), Shi-Heria Shipp (knee) and Janine Davis (illness) are unavailable. The Colonials have been hampered by injuries each of the past two seasons after having just eight players available the final 19 games of 2009-10. GW's total production out with those four players (including Shipp's 2009-10 stats): 24.2 ppg, 12.9 rpg and 4.2 apg.
GW has won its last four series meetings against Massachusetts and all 19 of its matchups against UM at Smith Center dating back to 1984. In last year's meeting in Amherst, MA, Megan Nipe scored a then career-high 18 points, Tiana Myers added 17 and Brooke Wilson registered her first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds along with six assists and four steals as GW posted a 64-54 victory over UMass. GW shot 44.4 percent from the field and committed a season-low eight turnovers while enjoying a 22-2 edge in points off turnovers. The Colonials took a 19-16 lead on Sara Mostafa's three-point play with 8:26 left in the first half and never trailed again.
Massachusetts (6-19, 2-8 A-10) has dropped six consecutive league games and eight of its last nine overall. The Minutewomen currently sit in 12th place in the league standings - the final spot to earn a bid to the A-10 Championship - a half game behind the Colonials. u In its most recent outing Wednesday night, UMass held Dayton to just 36 percent shooting, but the home-standing Flyers scored the final seven points of the game to pull away for a 66-58 victory. Cerie Mosgrove reached double figures for the 14th straight game with a game-high 13 points and Megan Zullo added 12, but UD scored 21 points off UM's 22 turnovers.
Mosgrove leads UM at 13.7 points per game and paces the A-10 at 51.2 percent from beyond the arc (65-127). Zullo adds 10.9 ppg and is second in the A-10 at 4.8 assists per game. Jasmine Watson adds 13.2 points and team-high 7.2 rebounds per game.
UM is one of the top offensive teams in the A-10, but among the league's worst defensively. UMass is the only team in the A-10 to shoot better than 40 percent from the field (40.8%) and have a losing record. The Minutewomen are last in the A-10 in scoring defense (70.9 ppg) despite leading the league with 7.3 made three pointers per game at a 39.7 percent rate.
UMass is in its first year under head coach Sharon Dawley. Dawley came to UM after totaling 128 victories and two NCAA Tournament appearances in seven seasons at Vermont. In her final two years the Catamounts won 48 games, including 27 en route to the NCAA Tournament second round in 2009-10.
