George Washington University Athletics
GW Wraps Annual Home-and-Home Series at Richmond Saturday
2/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2011
GW Notes at Richmond 
| | Live Video | Live Blog
RICHMOND, VA - The George Washington women's basketball team completes its annual home-and-home series with Richmond Saturday at the Robins Center at 2:00 pm. With three league games remaining, the Colonials are currently tied for 10th place in the A-10 standings with Fordham - two games behind La Salle and a game ahead of 12th-place Massachusetts.
Fans who cannot make it Saturday have a number of options for following the game:
• Watch Live on Richmond All-Access
• Follow live game stats via
• Follow the action and submit questions via the Live Blog
Regardless of Saturday's result at Richmond, GW (8-17, 3-8 A-10) would clinch a spot in its 29th Atlantic 10 Championship with losses by both Rhode Island and Saint Louis this weekend. GW is one of four A-10 teams (UM, SJU, TU) to qualify for all 28 league tournaments.
In its second to last home game of the season Wednesday, GW suffered its largest defeat in program history with an 89-36 loss to league unbeaten Temple. Sophomore Danni Jackson was the lone Colonial in double figures with 10 points. GW scored the opening basket, but TU responded with 28 unanswered points en route to its 13th straight victory. The Owls held a commanding 43-4 edge in points off turnovers as the Colonials committed a season-high 26 giveaways.
The Colonials had won three of their previous four games prior to Wednesday's loss to Temple, allowing opponents just 47.0 points on 29.6 percent shooting from the field in those four games.
GW will have at most 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. Junior Kristin Aldridge (shoulder) is questionable. 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 will look to avoid a third straight season sweep against Richmond, having lost five straight matchups in the annual home-and-home series which began with UR's move to the A-10 in 2002. The Colonials opened the 2011 Atlantic 10 season with a 68-55 loss to the Spiders at Smith Center despite holding a 35-30 lead at halftime. UR senior Brittani Shells, currently the A-10's leading scorer this season and 10th in league history with 1,953 career points, netted 19 of her 30 points in the second half to help the Spiders rally.
Richmond (15-10, 6-5 A-10) has dropped its last two league games to Xavier and Saint Joseph's to fall into a three-way tie for sixth place in the A-10 standings.
The Spiders have had a week off following a 71-61 loss to the Saint Joseph's Hawks in Philadelphia last Saturday. The loss dropped UR into a tie with SJU and St. Bonaventure for sixth in the A-10 with three league game remaining.
Senior guard Brittani Shells leads the A-10 in scoring at 19.4 points per game. Her 1,953 points are the second-most in Richmond history, trailing only Karen Elsner's 2,422 points from 1981-85.
Senior center Crystal Goring had a season-high 22 points and career-best eight assists and junior Abby Oliver added 16 points in the losing effort at Saint Joseph's. Shells was limited to just 12 points - her third fewest of the season - on 6-of-22 shooting.
The trio of Shells, Oliver and Goring have dominated GW in recent seasons. Shells has averaged 19.5 points in the last five wins, Oliver has added 14.0 and Goring has chipped in 8.5 rebounds.
The Spiders also get 3.1 points and 13.0 minutes per game from 5-foot-10 freshman Becca Wann, a two-sport student-athlete who was named the A-10 women's soccer Rookie of the Year this past fall. Wann, who led UR with 10 goals, did not play in GW's 1-0 overtime win over Richmond this past October.
Richmond has posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons and made consecutive appearances in the Postseason WNIT.
