George Washington University Athletics
Buff & Blue Believers
3/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Eric Detweiler, GW Athletics Communications
As Selection Monday festivities wound down inside the Charles E. Smith Center, GW head coach Jennifer Rizzotti's work was just beginning.
The Colonials had celebrated their NCAA assignment with the usual pomp and circumstance. They cheered the reveal of their first-round matchup with Ohio State and then again when the ESPN broadcast showed their joyous reaction to the news before the Colonial Brass struck into a rousing rendition of the fight song.
Now, Rizzotti had to start preparations for the Big Ten champion Buckeyes. With the bracket set, the countdown to March Madness was officially on.
But first, Rizzotti had a few shout-outs on her mind. The second-year coach thanked the assembled supporters â€" from President Thomas J. LeBlanc and the administration to the spirit squad to the parents and fans who have followed the Colonials every step of the way â€" before turning attention to her staff and finally seniors Brianna Cummings, Kelli Prange and Camila Tapias seated in the front row.
"They probably believed before I did that we could do this," Rizzotti told the room. "They set a great example for the rest of our guys every single day. It's a pretty great atmosphere to walk into as a coach to know that your seniors have your back, they believe that they can win and are just eager to do whatever you ask of them."
How better to explain the turnaround that landed GW a return to the NCAA Tournament? The Colonials were 3-7 and then 9-11 before starting the surge that culminated with three wins in as many days to claim the Atlantic 10 Championship and an automatic bid.
A young squad kept progressing throughout the season, led by veterans who never stopped believing that they'd close their collegiate careers with a third NCAA trip in four years.
"It's easy to get down," said Cummings, who was named the A-10 Championship's Most Outstanding Player. "I definitely went through my little battles of frustration, thinking 'Why isn't it clicking?', 'Why isn't it coming together?', but it just gave us an opportunity to grow. We were not going to let that (start) define our season whatsoever. We just wanted to make sure that we learned from it."
To Rizzotti, the faith that kept this season from sliding off the tracks during the tough times is a testament to her seniors.
Cummings, Prange and Tapias already had two NCAA appearances when she arrived from Hartford in April 2016. The coach knew she was asking them to step outside of their collective comfort zone to adjust to her style and philosophy.
There were bumps in the road, to be sure, but Rizzotti has been impressed by their efforts to buy in at every turn.
"To get them to that point in such a short amount of time is really special," Rizzotti said. "And it says more about their character than my coaching ability."
To hear Cummings tell it, the groundwork for this unlikely postseason run began after a disappointing end to last season.
GW claimed the A-10 regular season title but then ended up on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble after a quick exit in the conference tournament. It made for a tough end for the three seniors, including 1,000-point scorers Hannah Schaible and Caira Washington, that provided a powerful reminder of the importance of peaking in March.
"It really fueled us," Cummings said. "We kind of made up our mind right then and there that we don't want to go out like that."
With an eye on the big picture, the seniors did their best to keep perspective through the patience-testing start.
GW was picked sixth in the A-10 preseason poll and looked the part of a mid-pack club for much of the season's first three months.
The Colonials took their lumps against a tortuous non-conference schedule that included matchups with seven eventual NCAA foes.
The start of the A-10 slate provided much of the same. An overtime loss to Saint Louis at the buzzer on their home court Jan. 27 dropped them to 3-3 in conference play.
"It was like 'At some point, this has to change.'" Rizzotti said. "Because .500 wasn't going to be enough to help us play in any postseason tournament."
From there, the Colonials started to look more like the A-10 contender they considered themselves to be with six wins in their final eight games of the regular season.
Prange returned to form on the other side of a concussion, while freshmen Neila Luma, Chyna Latimer and Lexus Levy started to make important strides.
Other than the results, Prange said not much changed day to day, though.
"Everybody goes through their days and has their ups and downs," said Prange, the A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year. "What we wanted to bring to each practice and each game was optimism and energy that was so positive and contagious for everyone."
Rizzotti has encouraged the seniors, plus junior Mei-Lyn Bautista and Kelsi Mahoney, to take that kind of ownership in the team. It's a part of the culture that this group learned from leaders like Washington, Schaible, Lauren Chase and Jonquel Jones before them.
Ahead of the A-10 Tournament opener against La Salle on Feb. 27, Rizzotti suggested the upperclassmen meet to get everyone on the same page.
They grabbed breakfast and headed to the locker room for a spirited back-and-forth about how to correct mistakes from a Senior Day loss to Richmond and what it takes to be a champion.
Then, the Colonials went out and blitzed the Explorers, 69-49.
"It really stuck," Cummings said. "The energy that we came with from the first game to the very last game was just a summary of that meeting, honestly."
For Rizzotti, road wins over Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis late in the season offered promising signs that this group could win an A-10 title, but she was sure of it after the rout of La Salle.
"It was just a different team," Rizzotti said. "It was like 'OK, here's Postseason GW.' It was really fun to watch that."
Indeed, GW put together three impressive performances at the Richmond Coliseum to claim the title as the No. 5 seed. Cummings hit double figures in every game, Bautista kept the offense rolling and Mahoney drilled one big 3-pointer after another.
The winding path to get there made the celebration after the 65-49 win over Saint Joseph's all the more rewarding.
"It was our turn to give back to this program," Prange said. "We're just excited that we were able to continue this legacy that GW has brought. It's just an amazing experience and feeling to be able to say that we're a part of something so great."
Now, Rizzotti is counting on those veterans who have been there before to set the right tone in preparations for the NCAA matchup with third-seeded Ohio State.
Cummings, Prange and Tapias believed this was possible when others didn't, and that's not changing as the Colonials get ready to try to spring the upset and continue what's already been a memorable March.
"We have the confidence to know that we can play with anybody," Tapias said. "Yes, we were the underdogs and proving everyone wrong was amazing, but we've always known that we can do big things."
