Women's Basketball Tips Off Postseason Tuesday at Saint Joseph's

Tuesday, March 5

Philadelphia, Pa.

3 p.m.

George Washington University

No. 8 Saint Joseph's

Women's Basketball Tips Off Postseason Tuesday at Saint Joseph's

3/4/2019 2:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Colonials embark on quest to repeat as tournament champions at 3 p.m.

WASHINGTON - GW women's basketball opens up postseason play as the No. 9 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship, traveling to face No. 8 seed Saint Joseph's on Tuesday at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. The winner of Tuesday's matchup will advance to the A-10 Quarterfinals and face No. 1 seed VCU on Friday at 11 a.m. at Duquesne's A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh.

HISTORY IN THE A-10 TOURNAMENT: The Colonials are 44-29 all-time in 36 A-10 Championships, winning their seventh tournament title last season. Tuesday's game is a rematch of last year's final, won by the No. 5 seed Colonials over the No. 6 seed Hawks, 65-49. GW is 4-5 all-time in first round matchups, but has won two straight in the round, including last year's triumph over No. 12 seed La Salle, 69-49. The Buff & Blue are in a rare position as the lower seed in a postseason matchup, something that has only happened in 19 of the previous 73 A-10 tournament games. GW is 3-16 as the lower seed in the postseason, but two of those wins came last season with victories over No. 4 George Mason in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Dayton in the semifinals.

GW VS. SAINT JOSEPH'S: The Colonials and Hawks have squared off 11 times in postseason play with St. Joe's winning seven of the meetings. GW, though, has been victorious in the last two matchups and is 2-2 against the Hawks inside Hagan Arena. Tuesday's game represents the 19th A-10 tournament game GW has played in Hagan Arena (formerly Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse), more than any other arena in program history. The Colonials are 10-8 in postseason games at the facility. Saint Joseph's won the regular season matchup, 41-38, at the Smith Center. The all-time series between the programs is squared up, 31-31.

INSIDE LAST YEAR'S MAGICAL RUN: GW won four games in six days to win the A-10 tournament championship last year thanks, in part, to Mei-Lyn Bautista and Kelsi Mahoney, who earned All-Tournament honors for their efforts. Bautista tallied a ridiculous 26 assists in the four games with no turnovers, registering seven or more assists in three of four games. Meanwhile, Mahoney shot a preposterous 53.8 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 14-of-26 3-pointers. She posted double figures in each game and drilled at least four 3s in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Not to be forgotten, Neila Luma reached double figures in the semifinals and finals, posting a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in the semifinal win over No. 1 Dayton.

GETTING HER GROOVE BACK: Sophomore Neila Luma's first double-double of the season last Wednesday continued her strong play in the recent couple weeks. Luma has reached double figures in four of the last five games and grabbed at least nine rebounds in three straight contests. Luma is averaging 10.2 ppg and 7.2 rpg in the last five games.

A LOOK AT THE HAWKS: Like GW, Saint Joseph's dropped its final two games of the regular season, but earned the home game via the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Hawks are led by Alyssa Monaghan, who averages 14.5 ppg and shoots 39.1 percent from beyond the arc, ranking sixth and second in the A-10 in those categories. Besides Monaghan, St. Joe's features a balanced attack with eight other players averaging double figure minutes and between 2.0 and 8.0 ppg. The Hawks and Colonials are incredibly similar in many defensive categories, highlighted by St. Joe's allowing one fewer point (1,659) this year than GW (1,660) in 50 more minutes.