WILMINGTON, Del. – With just seconds remaining and fresh off an athletic offensive rebound tip from Mayowa Taiwo, Mia Lakstigala drilled a dagger from long range to escort seventh-seeded George Washington into the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals, edging past No. 10 Duquesne behind a 71-68 final mark Thursday evening at CHASE Fieldhouse.
“Shoutout to Mayowa [Taiwo] for getting that rebound, she works so hard to get those rebounds,” Lakstigala said. “I’m really proud of her for getting that last one and when she kicked it out, I knew that time was running down. All I had to do was shoot it and I just had confidence in my shot in those last seconds going down and it went in.”
Lakstigala paced GW on the scoreboard overall, dropping 24 points on a career-high six three-pointers also grabbing nine rebounds. Nya Lok recorded 20 points and eight rebounds as well while Taiwo, an A-10 All-Defensive team selection, brought down 12 rebounds.
“I’m just really proud of our team today,” George Washington head coach Caroline McCombs said. “We knew it was going to be competitive, we needed to rebound and be the tougher team. You saw a lot of runs throughout the course of the game and I thought we finished strong. You need a little bit of luck this time of year, so we’ll take that tip-out three.”
The Colonials won the rebounding battle as well, 38-22, grabbing 15 offensive boards en route to a 15-1 advantage in second-chance points.
Duquesne, meanwhile, found success off the efforts of All-Conference second team recipient Megan McConnell, who posted 17 points, eight rebounds and eight steals. Ayanna Townsend added 14 points and Precious Johnson contributed 12 of her own.
The Dukes shot an even 49 percent (24-of-49) from the field overall.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team that I was fortunate enough to coach this year,” Duquesne head coach Dan Burt stated. “What happened today doesn’t take any luster off of what they have achieved.”
Lakstigala was an early weapon for GW, contributing on four of her team’s five baskets prior to the opening stoppage. Her seven points allowed GW some offensive continuity, while defensively the Colonials set the tone by forcing Duquesne into a shot-clock violation on the first possession.
After finishing 1-for-29 from three point range during the regular-season contest against George Washington, the Dukes shook the memory off early as the squad connected on their first two shots from range.
GW stretched a lead to five points when Lakstigala again connected from three-point range, but three consecutive traveling violations allowed the Dukes to battle back, briefly finding an edge of their own off a Townsend free throw. Asjah Innis beat the first-quarter buzzer for the Colonials, however, driving to the basket and nailing a layup to vault GW in front by a point heading into the break.
GW started off the next half with the game’s first run, a 9-0 advantage dating back to Innis’ dramatic finish, to grow the lead to eight points.
Duquesne went back to work from distance as Tess Myers connected from downtown on a McConnell pass before the latter found paydirt of her own, narrowing the George Washington lead to just two.
A sequence of stellar outside shooting saw GW add to that advantage, notching a double-digit edge near the end of the third.
Duquesne opened the fourth quarter with a sense of urgency, rattling off a 13-2 run to bring the lead back within one. McConnell provided an and-one play in the stretch, and Lauren Wasylson connected on an open three-point look.
Following a Colonials timeout, Taiwo established herself in the post, going to work for a hard-earned basket, which McConnell matched.
Duquesne then experienced a breakthrough as McConnell twice found Townsend in the same offensive action, pushing the Dukes ahead for the first time during the half.
Lok went back to work down low on the ensuing possession, hitting a shot to knot the score with less than a minute to play.
After the Dukes came up empty on the offensive end, Taiwo's offensive board off an Innis misfire, followed by a quick outlet to Lakstigala, sealed the eventual victory for George Washington.
Taiwo came through one more time in the closing seconds, as the redshirt senior got her fingertips on an attempted game-tying shot.
Victory in hand, George Washington punches the program's ticket to the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon, squaring off against No. 2 Rhode Island at 5 p.m. with live stream via ESPN+.