Women's Basketball Opens Season vs. Lincoln Wednesday

Wednesday, November 25

Washington, DC

5 p.m.

George Washington University

Lincoln

11/24/2020 1:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WBB Game Notes vs. Lincoln Live Stats Watch on ESPN+

Colonials and Lions tip off the season at 5 p.m.

WASHINGTON - GW women's basketball begins the fifth year under head coach Jen Rizzotti on Wednesday evening against Lincoln. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. from the Smith Center, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

SEASON OF ACTION: As part of the 2020-21 Season of Action, GW women's basketball is proud to highlight campus resources that create space for and celebrate the Black community at GW and beyond.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement (ODECE) is our university's primary mechanism to foster an environment in which all members of the GW community are treated equitably, contribute full to the university's mission, and embrace and model GW values. This month, ODECE hosted the 6th Annual GW Diversity Summit, themed: Past. Present. Future. What will our legacy be?

Learn more about ODECE: diversity.gwu.edu

Learn more about their student hub, the Multicultural Student Services Center (MSSC): https://mssc.gwu.edu/

The GW Black Student Union was founded in 1968 and aims to create a Black experience where all Black students feel supported, welcomed, advocated for and cared for. To learn more about the Black Student Union, email bsu@gwu.edu.

This summer, GW Athletics revitalized its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, which has been hard at work through the fall semester to listen to, educate and empower all members of the Athletics community. One of the semester's crowning achievements has been to launch the Black Student-Athlete Alliance (BSAA), which creates space for Black student-athletes at GW to commune and share their experiences as Black athletes.

Follow the BSAA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwbsaa/

Learn more about the Athletics DEI Task Force: https://gwsports.com/sports/2020/6/29/diversity-inclusion.aspx

WHO'S BACK: Three starters return in sophomore Faith Blethen, redshirt sophomore Mayowa Taiwo and graduate student Sydney Zambrotta. Junior Maddie Loder, redshirt junior Neila Luma and sophomore Essence Brown, all of whom started at least five games last year, round out the returners from the 2019-20 squad.

A WELCOME SIGHT: Luma was named to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team, her second straight year with the honor. Last season, she was named to the preseason second team, but missed all but five games last season after going down with a season-ending knee injury at Maryland (Nov. 20) and taking a redshirt year. During those five games, she averaged 5.6 ppg and 5.0 rpg in 25.6 mpg.

Prior to last season, the Macungie, Pa., native had started 59 of the first 63 games in her career and averaged 27.5 mpg. Luma was the Colonials' leading returning scorer and rebounder entering 2019, averaging 10.4 ppg and 6.1 rpg in her last full season in 2018-19.

A LOOK AT THE LIONS: Lincoln is coming off its best season in program history, finishing 23-6 at the Division II level. The Lions were nationally ranked for the first time in their Division II history and established a school record with those 23 victories.

Lincoln will be looking to replace the talents of All-American Kwanza Murray (18.3 ppg) and three of its top four scorers overall. The Lions only return 20 percent of last year's scoring with senior Bryanna Brown the team's top returning scorer at 7.4 ppg. The Lions were ranked fourth by HBCU Women's Sports Top 10 prior to the season.