George Washington University Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens Rizzotti Era on Friday Night
11/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| GW at Georgetown | GW vs. Princeton |
| Friday, Nov. 11 - 7 :00 p.m. | Sunday, Nov. 13 - 12:00 p.m. |
| Washington, D.C. - McDonough Arena | Washington, D.C. - Charles E. Smith Center |
| Tickets | | Watch Live GW Notes | GU Notes | Tickets | | RaiseHigh Live |
TIPPING OFF: The two-time defending Atlantic 10 Champion George Washington women's basketball team will open its 2016-17 season by playing two games in a 41-hour span, starting on Friday night with a visit to District rival Georgetown. Tip-off against the Hoyas is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at McDounough Arena.
RIZZOTTI ERA BEGINS: Friday's game marks the first on the sidelines for new head coach Jennifer Rizzotti who is ready to lead the Colonials following a 17-year tenure as the head coach of Hartford.
Rizzotti is fresh off of a gold-medal run with the United States National Team at the Rio Summer Olympics. She served on her mentor Geno Auriemma's coaching staff and helped Team USA to a sixth consecutive gold medal.
A 2013 inductee into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Rizzotti led Hartford to 316 wins in 17 seasons, with six appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and distinguished herself as the all-time winningest coach in America East history. Under her leadership, the Hawks won five America East Championships and two regular-season crowns.
REWIND: GW is coming off its second consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship in 2015-16 and a share of the conference's regular-season title. The Colonials finished 26-7 overall with a 13-3 mark in the Atlantic 10 and picked up wins over George Mason, VCU and Duquesne in the A-10 Championship en route to the program's A-10 record sixth league crown.
HISTORY LESSON: GW boasts one of the nation's best track records since 1990 with 21 postseason appearances, 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, four NCAA Sweet 16's (1995, 1997, 2007, 2008), a 1997 Elite 8 appearance, 15 Atlantic 10 regular-season titles, six Atlantic 10 Championships and 21 20-win seasons.
PRESEASON POLL: GW grabbed two first-place votes and was picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches Poll.
ALL-CONFERENCE NODS: Senior Caira Washington earned a pair of Preseason All-Conference accolades as she was named to both the A-10 Preseason All-Conference First Team and the Preseason All-Defensive Team. Her classmate, Hannah Schaible, was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: GW will face a minimum of eight postseason teams from 2016 in its non-conference schedule, beginning with Sunday's game against 2016 NCAA Tournament participant Princeton. The non-conference slate includes home games against 2016 NCAA National runner up Syracuse (Nov. 25) and a home game with NCAA Elite 8 participant Stanford (Dec. 21).
The Colonials will also encounter a handful of postseason teams in its A-10 schedule including St. Bonaventure (Feb. 15) and Duquesne (Jan. 1/Jan. 29), who both made the NCAA Tournament.
NEW FACES: GW welcomes three newcomers into the fold this season with the freshmen duo of Harper Birdsong and Kendall Bresee, along with graduate transfer Lexi Martins (Lehigh).
Birdsong is a three-time Virginia Independent Schools Athletics Association DII State Player of the Year out of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy while Bresee is a two-time Frederick County Player of the Year from Urbana High School.
Martins was a three-year letterwinner at Lehigh and was the 2016 Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year as a junior after finishing third in the nation in rebounding (13.6 rpg) and tied for first in the NCAA with 24 double-doubles. In three seasons at Lehigh she averaged 11.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per contest.
SERIES HISTORY: GW leads the all-time series over Georgetown, 18-16, and earned a 72-60 win at home in the last meeting on December 9, 2014. The Colonials are 7-9 in road games at McDounough Arena.
The Colonials are 4-2 all-time against Princeton and have won the last four games in a row. The teams last met on December 21, 2008, a 77-56 win for the Colonials at the Smith Center.
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN: Georgetown had quite the turnaround last season. After going 4-27 overall in 2014-15, the Hoyas responded under head coach Natasha Adair to go 16-14 with a 9-9 mark in the Big East last season and an appearance in the WNIT.
Georgetown is without five letterwinners as they enter the 2015-16 campaign but do return leading scorers Dorothy Adomako and Dionna White, who each averaged 14.5 points per game last season.
SCOUTING PRINCETON: Princeton will open the season on Friday night with a home game against Rider before traveling south for Sunday's matinee at the Smith Center. The Tigers became the Ivy League's first team to ever earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season after going 23-6 overall.
Princeton was picked as the No. 2 team in the Ivy League Preseason Poll and returns just one starter from last season in Vanessa Smith, who averaged 8.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 28 games last season.
