George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
(7-5)
#14 Stanford
(9-2)
Women's Basketball Falls to #14 Stanford, 71-52
12/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
WASHINGTON - Hosting #14 Stanford in the penultimate non-conference game of the regular season, the George Washington women's basketball team fell to the Cardinal, 71-52, on Wednesday night at the Charles E. Smith Center.
The defeat marked the Colonials' first home loss of the season (4-1), but GW has an opportunity to get back to their winning ways on short rest on Friday with a visit from Loyola (Md.) for a noon matinee.
"What we hope out of this stretch of tough non-conference games is that it prepares us to work a little bit harder and to understand some of our flaws and be determined to continue to get better." said Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti. "This group has been really good about that every time we have talked about it so I am excited to move forward and make sure we look much more like that third quarter team heading into Friday's game."
GW was done in by a tough second quarter in which Stanford held a 30-9 edge. For the other 30 minutes of the game, the Colonials actually outscored their counterparts 43-41, but the nationally-ranked Cardinal had an answer for every run GW tried to make in the second half to cut into the deficit.
After trailing 41-19 at halftime, GW clawed back into contention with a 22-13 third quarter. Coming out of the locker room after intermission, the Colonials were hot and connected on 8-of-15 shots, including a pair from three-point range. Junior Kelli Prange had seven points in the quarter (nine in the game), while sophomore Mei-Lyn Bautista, graduate student Lexi Martins and senior Caira Washington each had four in the third, as GW got 12 of its 18 paint points that stanza while translating seven Cardinal turnovers into 10 points on the other end.
"I was happy that we were able to regroup at halftime and come out and be the better team in the third quarter but obviously it was disappointing we weren't able to hang in there a little bit harder in that second quarter when we had trouble scoring," said Rizzotti. "I wanted them to come out and prove who they were in that third quarter. I don't think they thought for a second that we were out of it and you can see by the way we started the third that they very much felt it was a game we could compete in."
Stanford pushed back in the fourth, however, and closed the game with a 17-11 quarter to drop GW to 7-5 on the season while improving to 9-2. Bautista led the way in the scoring column for GW in the contest with 12, while Washington joined her in double figures while double-doubling with a 10-point, 13-rebound effort. It marks the team-leading third double-double effort of the season for Washington and 32nd of her career.
Meanwhile it was Hannah Schaible who took home game-high rebounding honors with a career-high 14 caroms, the most by a GW player in a single game this season, including a mammoth 11 boards on the offensive end. GW held a 47-36 rebounding edge, including 21-6 on the offensive glass that was parlayed into a 16-5 margin in second chance points. GW has outrebounded the opposition in 10-of-12 games this season.
For the Cardinal, Brittany McPhee's game high 21 points led the way in a 8-of-11 shooting performance from the guard. Erica McCall (13 points, 10 rebounds) did some heavy lifting for Stanford, while Nadia Fingall's 11 points off the bench and Briana Roberson's 10 gave the visitors four double-digit scorers.
GW entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in blocks with 71 on the season (6.5 per game) and added to that total with another seven rejections against Stanford, with five different student-athletes getting in on the block party.
After the non-conference finale on Friday, GW continues A-10 play on January 1st at Duquesne at 1pm on CBS Sports Network in a rematch of last season's A-10 Championship Game, which the Colonials won, 63-60.
