GW came out firing Thursday and flailing Sunday, winning and losing by margins of more than 20 points.
The Colonial women sailed against the College of William & Mary 69-48 Thursday at the Smith Center, but capsized versus the University of Florida 82-59 Sunday at Boston’s Fleet Center in the Reebok Classic.
The good news – Noelia Gomez returned from injury to face Florida. The bad news – Gomez showed rust, fouling out with six points on a 3-of-12 shooting performance and three rebounds in 15 minutes of play.
“I don’t feel secure with my knee so far,” Gomez told WRGW after the game.
GW (2-1) was led by Elisa Aguilar and Petra Dubovcova in both games, averaging team-highs of 20.5 and 17 points, respectively. Dubovcova led GW in rebounding with an average of 8.5 per game.
The Colonial women are back in action against Bowling Green University at the Seton Hall Tournament Friday at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
GW 69, William & Mary 48
William & Mary hung with GW until late in the first half, eventually succumbing to the Colonial women.
The Tribe (2-1) rallied to an early 19-16 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half, due in large part to the fact that Elisa Aguilar didn’t score until a little over six minutes were left in the initial period.
But Aguilar recovered, tallying 16 points and a game-high nine assists as GW outscored William & Mary 53-29 from that point.
Petra Dubovcova made up for Aguilar’s less-than-average offensive performance by recording game-highs of 25 points, 11 rebounds against a much smaller William & Mary squad. (See related story) GW’s offense accounted for 19 assists, most coming on feeds to the post players such as Dubovcova and Mandisa Turner, who scored 11 points.
The Colonial women shot 49 percent from the field while holding the Tribe to a just more than 25 percent for the contest.
“I’m not happy because we sleepwalked,” head coach Joe McKeown said. “We played in spurts.”
Florida 82, GW 59
GW’s patchwork team of hobbled and injured players faced the 20th-ranked team in the nation – the University of Florida – and fell 82-59 in the Reebok Classic.
GW led Florida (4-1) 25-23 with more than seven minutes left in the first half, and then the wheels fell off. The Lady Gators rolled to a 44-32 halftime lead and outscored the Colonial women 38-27 in the second half.
Elisa Aguilar was the lone bright spot for GW with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting overall, including three three-pointers. Mandisa Turner had a 5-of-14 shooting performance while Noelia Gomez scored on only three of her 12 attempts.
Reserve Tonya Washington paced Florida with team-highs of 19 points and 20 rebounds.
The Gator bench outscored the Colonial women’s substitutes, 59-10.
“We need to play hard, and we didn’t, and that’s why we lost,” Gomez told WRGW.
