The GW women’s basketball team dominated the team from Vologda Russia 95-62 Sunday at the Smith Center, as five GW players scored in double-digits.
Senior Elisa Aguilar led all scorers with 16 points and juniors Petra Dubovcova and Kristeena Alexander added 14 apiece.
Despite the turnover-plagued game, head coach Joe McKeown said it’s important to take the positives out of an exhibition game such as this one. Vologda Russia committed 25 first-half turnovers and finished the game with 47, an astronomical amount.
Alexander sparked the Colonial women early in the game as GW jumped out to a 15-6 lead. Vologda Russia kept the game relatively close in the first half behind Irina Passadskaya, who had eight points. GW committed nine turnovers in the first half and shot only 39 percent from the field as it took a 39-27 lead into halftime.
We were a little sloppy at times, McKeown said. We’ve got to put the ball in the basket.
And GW did just that as the Colonial women stormed out of the locker room and took a 45-29 lead in the first minute. A five-point run by Vologda Russia narrowed the score to 45-34 with 18 minutes remaining. After an Aguilar three-point basket, GW junior Corrin Reid scored six unanswered points to increase the lead to 52-36. Reid finished the contest shooting 3-of-5 from the field for 11 points. The GW defense had 21 steals for the game, nine coming in a second half that saw GW outscore Vologda Russia 56-35.
Ahead 64-43 with 13 minutes remaining, freshman Lindsey Davidson led a 10-0 run with six points to extend the GW lead. Davidson shot 4-of-11 from the floor for 11 points. Freshman Cathy Joens struggled in the game, shooting 0-of-6 from the floor, but fellow freshman Erica Lawrence picked up her play, scoring eight points and pulling down five rebounds.
Despite the easy victory, coach McKeown noted his concern that the Colonial women were out-rebounded by a 48-36 margin, an area that GW must improve upon against the team’s more talented opponents. Another area of concern for McKeown was the amount of fouls committed in the game by GW. Vologda Russia shot 19-of-27 from the foul line in the game, including a perfect 10-of-10 in the second half.
I’m concerned that we put them at the foul line, McKeown said.
The perimeter game for GW was also rather suspect as the Colonial women shot 5-of-19 from behind the arc and 24-of-40 from the free throw line.
McKeown said the exhibition was a mental test, one he hopes will prepare his team for its season-opener on the road against Vanderbilt Friday night.
