George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
(7-3)
American
(3-5)
Women's Basketball Falls in Overtime at AU, 66-61
12/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON - In a battle of District rivals that have met 25 times prior to Wednesday night, it was American emerging victorious to even the all-time series at 13-13 with a 66-61, overtime win over George Washington at Bender Arena.
GW (7-3) turned a three-point deficit at the end of the third quarter into a four-point lead with 1:47 left, but American (3-5) closed the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run to force overtime.
The Eagles then outscored the Colonials 9-4 in the extra session, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining, to take the win.
"Their effort is always good. They are tough, they compete," said Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti. "American did a nice job of sagging in and making things difficult for us early in the game and we never really adjusted. We had way too many turnovers and too many possessions where we failed to execute properly. Hopefully we will learn from it."
In all, the two teams battled through 10 ties and nine lead changes. The Colonials trailed by as many as six points in the second quarter but rallied in the final five minutes of the half to tie the score at 33-33 entering the break.
American led 51-48 with 7:30 left in the fourth quarter when a offensive put back by senior Hannah Schaible cut GW's deficit to one. The next 2:41 saw American clinging to a one-point lead until a fastbreak layup put the Eagles up by three with 4:19 to go in regulation.
Junior Brianna Cummings cut the deficit back to one with 3:39 to go and then the Colonials' defense forced a shot-clock violation ahead of a go-ahead jumper by senior Caira Washington to put GW up 54-53 with 2:45 to play. Moments later, senior Shannon Cranshaw hit a spot-up three pointer to put the Colonials ahead by four with just under two minutes to go.
The Eagles scored four points down the stretch to force overtime before limiting the Colonials to just two field goals on six attempts in the extra period.
Schaible led all players with 19 points and added five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal. She was joined in double figures by Washington, who hit 5-of-6 field goals for 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds with four assists.
Cummings also hit double digits with 10 points along with eight rebounds, while Cranshaw hit a trio of three-pointers to finish with nine points.
GW won the rebounding battle, 34-26, including a 16-8 edge in offensive boards that led to a massive 21-4 margin in second chance points. But the Colonials committed 19 turnovers on the evening, which led to 25 points for American, and hit just 6-of-14 free-throw attempts.
The Colonials return to action when they visit South Dakota State for a 2:00 p.m ET game on Sunday in Brookings, South Dakota.
"I think the biggest thing for us is to be better and to flow better into our offense when teams try to slow us down," said Rizzotti. "The execution has to be better. South Dakota State is really going to test our defense and we have to be able to get rebounds early in the game so we can get out and wear people down."
