HENRICO, Va. -- Saint Louis was on the run with the ball in Kyla McMakin’s hands down the stretch of the fourth and as she drove the lane she was fouled, ball in the air and demonstratively stomped her feet and pumped her fist, surrounded by her teammates.
“Big plays, everybody was celebrating one another,” she recalled. “When I see Julia (Martinez) coming with those flex muscles, something about it gives me goosebumps, I’ve got them now. That momentum and the support we have for each other it’s beautiful team basketball when it gets like that.”
The Billikens got one step closer towards potentially defending their Atlantic 10 Championship, overcoming an 11-point deficit and advancing to the quarterfinals with a 75-68 victory over George Washington.
SLU was led by McMakin’s 22 points and seven rebounds, one of four Billikens players to achieve double figures. The All-Conference Second Team selection was joined by Peyton Kennedy (15) and Brooklyn Gray (13). Tierra Simon was the fourth Billiken to achieve double figures, earning her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Saint Louis had a decisive 34-22 paint advantage.
“I’m just really proud of our women,” SLU coach Rebecca Tillett determined. “Multiple times we had to figure things out together. We really believe we’ve learned a lot of lessons in the non-conference and conference seasons, and each timeout we talked about that. This game provided us many opportunities to show that we are still learning those lessons. The best teams this time of year are still getting better, and we still are.”
George Washington saw All-Conference Third Team recipient Nya Robertson net a game-high 23 points. Nya Lok completed play with 15 points, Asjah Inniss 12 and Essence Brown 10. Mayowa Taiwo brought down 11 rebounds. The Revs owned a 27-16 edge in points off turnovers.
“I know there are a lot of hearts in our locker room that are hurting right now with a lot of veterans playing their last game,” GW coach Caroline McCombs assessed. “I thought we competed at a very high level for three quarters and when things started to unravel late in the fourth quarter, we weren’t playing our best. It was a little bit of a microcosm of our season, being able to have success in all four quarters and finishing strong. A lot of learning lessons today.”
Lok got the game started on the right foot by accounting for the Revolutionaries first five points in the contest. SLU would battle back but the Revs would offer a second 5-0 run and a 7-0 run in the opening period, shooting 56.3% from the field in the quarter.
The high watermark for GW came at the end of that 7-0 run when Robertson’s pullup jumper activated a Billikens timeout.
After Kamari Sims proved to be opportunistic with a buzzer-beating layup, the Revolutionaries led 21-14 heading into the second period. GW’s advantage reached double digits when Innis took a Lok pass and converted it into three points. SLU’s response to this was immediate and was an 11-0 run re-claiming the lead. It started with Kennedy’s second-chance layup, but the turning point proved to be a Revs turnover which occurred in front of the Billiken bench, during which graduate student manager Brooke Flowers stomped her feet in approval and encouraged her team to keep pushing. When Kennedy completed the run she started, GW immediately called a timeout in an effort to regroup.
Each team would battle to leave its final imprint on the quarter, and that privilege would go to the Revolutionaries following a pair of Robertson free throws. That made the score 36-34 GW at halftime.
Robertson greeted the third quarter by stealing the SLU inbounds pass and sprinting towards the basket for a layup.
A key 12-2 Revolutionaries run came as the Billikens went 5:03 without converting a shot from the field before Martinez found a cutting Kennedy who placed the ball through the bottom of the net. Lok would again affect the game with a pair of triples, first from the middle of court and then off a Taiwo pass in the closing seconds. When SLU could not cleanly make the next play, Robertson came away with the steal, securing a 56-45 lead at quarter’s end. As Lok went back to the huddle, she flashed her trademark celebration with the GW bench following suit.
Saint Louis went back to work, enjoying a 9-2 run as Gray rattled home a three-point shot as the Revs spent a timeout. The run continued, reaching 20-5.
With SLU back in front thanks to a pair of McMakin free throws following a technical foul, she recorded her and-one play. After GW sank a pair of free throws, Kennedy got into the and-one act herself, placing the Billikens in front by five points.
With time now on SLU’s side, the Revs struggled finding consistency from the free throw line down the stretch. The Billikens shot 6-for-8 from the field to conclude play and outscored the Revolutionaries 30-12 in the final quarter.
“Just as a group collectively being able to stay in the moment and not get too high and not get too low,” Kennedy said of closing out the game. The eco 212 has been our philosophy all year, and just encouraging each at the same time and supporting each other in those moments. As a collective group, we did a good job of that today.”
Saint Louis has secured a quarterfinal date with No. 2-seeded VCU on Friday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN+.