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George Washington Rallies Into the Second Round with Late Heroics

3/2/2022 4:13:38 PM

WILMINGTON, Del. - Despite facing a 10-point third-quarter deficit, 12th-seeded George Washington was able to emerge victorious over 13th-seeded St. Bonaventure 54-49 in the First Round of the 2022 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship at Chase Fieldhouse Wednesday.

With the win, GW has advanced into the second round, where it will face No. 5 La Salle Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in a contest carried by ESPN+.

GW saw graduate student Kyara Frames lead the way with 17 points. Redshirt junior forward Mayowa Taiwo concluded play with her fifth double-double of the season, which consisted of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Maxine Engel scored 12 points in her first career A-10 Championship game.

As a team, GW outrebounded St. Bonaventure 40-28.

“I’m so proud of this team today,” GW coach Caroline McCombs said. “It was a tough, gritty game. We were resilient and I can’t say enough about our team playing from behind, trying to lock in and get those stops. We know the ball would eventually go in the basket, but we rely on our defense, and our defense really picked it up in that second half.”

St. Bonaventure was led by a pair of student-athletes, both of whom played in their final game. First guard Tori Harris who scored a game-high 18 points. Additionally, All-Conference Second Team selection Asianae Johnson scored 17 points while also grabbing seven rebounds.

"We struggled to finish in February and struggled to finish today,” St. Bonaventure coach Jesse Fleming said. “We just didn’t get the stops that we needed to down the stretch.”

In the early going, it was the Colonials who struck first going on an 11-2 run as St. Bonaventure opened scoreless for the first 3:21 of game action.

Engel was a key for this early run as she first converted a turnaround jumper off a turnover and then converted a 3-point basket off a Sheslanie Laureano pass. Engel scored eight of her points in the first quarter.

As the opening quarter drew towards its conclusion, St. Bonaventure began to find its offensive rhythm, with Johnson converting a pull up jumper, and then finding Harris for a 3-point shot, cutting the deficit to seven points after 10 minutes of play.

The Bonnies continued what would be a cumulative 18-0 run into the second quarter, taking control of the contest.

First, I’yanna Lops found Harris for another three-point basket. When GW did not convert on any of its four shot opportunities on the next trip down the court, Harris drove to the basket and get rewarded for her efforts with a layup. When Johnson buried another pull-up jumper, and later a layup, the Bonnies took their first lead of the game as the Colonials attempted to regroup by calling a timeout.

The second-quarter advantage reached seven points after Nikki Oppenheimer drilled a 3-pointer off a GW turnover.

Taiwo scored the team’s lone basket on a layup, but the Colonials were outscored 14-2, trailing 23-18 at halftime.

After GW split free throws to open the third quarter, St. Bonaventure struck for a 6-0 run, opening up a 10-point advantage as another timeout would be called.

Both teams battled for control and GW was able to reduce its deficit to 41-36 after three quarters.

Harris connected for her third triple of the afternoon, to open the fourth quarter scoring as GW attempted to come from behind.

That was where Taiwo took over, scoring the next five points, to separate both teams to within a possession.

Down five points, Laureano connected on a jumper that keyed a crucial 10-0 GW run that put back in front. Frames connected twice from deep. The first basket placed the Colonials back in front and then her second triple, making the game a two-possession affair with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

After a St. Bonaventure timeout, Johnson converted an and-one play, cutting the deficit to two points as the scoreboard showed nine seconds. GW advanced the ball before Frames split free throws. After a St. Bonaventure turnover, Engel sank both of her free throws to secure the victory.

“We just played La Salle and they are fresh on our minds,” said McCombs. “Our players are excited about the rematch and obviously they got to watch our game today. We’ll get ice baths tonight and it’s a lot of mental prep, watching film and making adjustments from the last game.”