Women's Basketball Loses Nail-Biter With Monmouth, 55-51

Sunday, December 2

Washington, D.C.

2 p.m.

George Washington University

2-6

Monmouth

3-4

Monmouth

George Washington

12/2/2018 4:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Trio of Colonials post double-figure outputs

WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's basketball team welcomed the Monmouth Hawks to the nation's capital on Sunday for the middle game of a three-date homestand. A game of runs and lead changes ensued, with the lead changing hands 14 times and the contest being knotted on six occasions. Neither team led by more than five points in the tightly contested battle, but unfortunately for the Colonials, the final lead change went the way of the Hawks in a 55-51 Monmouth victory.

Befitting of the roller coaster contest, GW was set-up for a final thrill in the closing seconds. After a Mei-Lyn Bautista coast-to-coast lay-in brought GW within a basket at 52-50 with :49 seconds to play, the Colonials had the ball and a shot at the lead after a defensive stop with :18 to go. That possession ended with a free throw from Sarah Overcash at the :15 mark, to make it 52-51 Monmouth, but GW could get no closer as three Monmouth free throws sealed it around an errant GW three-point try.

It was clear from the jump that both sides were set for a donnybrook. GW sophomore Neila Luma had GW's first six points before a Maddie Loder hoop-and-the-harm tied it up a 8-8 with three minutes to go in the opening quarter. Luma then gave GW a 10-8 edge, followed by a Monmouth three, before a jumper from first-year Kayla Mokwuah foreshadowed the back-and-forth affair the afternoon would bring.

Monmouth held a 17-12 edge at the quarter break before Loder opened the 2nd quarter with a three. GW drew even when Bautista found the basket for the first time, and classmate Kelsi Mahoney extended GW's second quarter-opening run to 8-0 with a triple of her own to put GW ahead 20-17 before Monmouth got its first second quarter points halfway through the period. As was commonplace throughout the game, however, the lead quickly swapped and it was the Hawks who held the slim halftime lead, 30-27.

A Bautista three got the Colonials going to open the third quarter, knotting the game at 30-30. Monmouth answered with a mini five-point run, and when Bautista went to bench midway through the third quarter with three fouls, the Colonials had their work cut out for them with their primary ball handler saddled with foul trouble trailing by five, 35-30. Up for the challenge, GW responded in fine fashion with an 8-0 spurt of its own, six of which came from redshirt-sophomore Olivia Gumbs. Nearly even for 30 minutes of play, it was the Colonials who clung to bucket margin, 42-40, entering the final frame.

In the final stanza, the Colonials picked the worst time to find unfriendly iron, as despite getting a number of good looks at the basket, the ball just wouldn't drop in. A 2-of-15 shooting show in the fourth doomed the Colonials to their lowest scoring quarter (9) of the game at the wrong time.

Bautista, Luma and Gumbs tied for the team lead with 10 points apiece, while Overcash was uncontainable on the boards with a career-high 14 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end. Sierra Green and Emani Clough gave the visitors 44 of their 55 points, as the pair combined to each hit half of Monmouth's eight total three-pointers.

GW looks to make its three-game homestand a winning one with a match-up against Villanova on Thursday night at 7pm.