The Atlantic 10 West Division champion GW women’s basketball team begins postseason play Saturday at noon when it will take on the Temple/La Salle winner in the A-10 Tournament’s quarterfinal round at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
GW enters the A-10 tourney with the same regular season record (23-4) as the other top conference teams Xavier (13-3 A-10) and St. Joseph’s (14-2 A-10 East). The Colonials’ record and first-place finish was not expected in the preseason when GW was picked to finish second behind Xavier. GW’s season, which included a 12-game winning streak in December and January, has made GW’s Joe McKeown a leading candidate for A-10 Coach of the Year.
He’s one of the best coaches in the nation, GW assistant Coach Kara McVey said. I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d want to work. The real reason you come here is to win championships, and that’s why I came here, because he knows how to win championships.
Last season, McKeown and the Colonials were shunned by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee despite a 19-9 regular season record. Having graduated senior Noelia Gomez, McKeown was forced to find a way to re-establish GW as a nationally ranked tournament team. McKeown’s biggest move was bringing in a new coaching staff of McVey, Kathy Wilson and Tori Harrison.
We have a whole new coaching staff, and I think you could really point to my staff and say that’s one of the main reasons we’re sitting here at 23-4 and in the top 25 in the country. The smartest thing I did was hire those three, McKeown said. It hasn’t been me putting in a new offense or coming up with some great defense. And `Red’ (Auerbach) was saying – we were talking yesterday – he said `your system is really determined by your personnel,’ and I think coaches who really understand that adjust to that. So we have to adjust, it seems, every year, and say what’s the best way to play with the personnel that you have.
McKeown enters the A-10 Tournament with 247 career GW wins, and the Colonials will need to win three games over the weekend to capture the tournament title they have not won since defeating La Salle 73-68 in the 1995-96 season. GW is 18-14 overall since the tournament began in 1983. The Colonials are 8-8 in the quarterfinals and are 3-2 in the championship round, all five (’92, `94-’97) played under McKeown.
It’s been a while, McKeown said. You know our seniors, Marlo (Egleston), for as great as a career as she’s had and she’s played on some great teams, she’s never cut the nets down and won the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
When St Joseph’s won the A-10 tourney in 1999, the Hawks beat GW in the semifinal round 74-56. The Hawks also beat the Colonials 59-56 in the championship round in 1997, the same year GW battled to the Elite Eight of the NCAAs. Virginia Tech fought off GW 73-72 in the 1998 semifinal round before winning the A-10 title. Having come up short the last few seasons, McKeown believes this could be the year for GW to reach the top.
It’s a roller-coaster ride, and there’s a lot of emotion, McKeown said. Like I told them (Wednesday), this is where great players step up. In March, this is when great teams step to the plate.
The Colonials’ potent offense has four players scoring in double-digits against conference opponents. Senior Elisa Aguilar leads GW with 13.9 points per game while junior Petra Dubovcova is averaging 12.5 points in A-10 play. Freshman Erica Lawrence will enter her first conference tourney averaging 10.3 points per game while teammate Kristeena Alexander adds 10 points off the bench. GW has out-scored A-10 opponents by an average of 72.3 points per game to 59.4 points per game, and McKeown knows his team must continue to shoot the ball well in order to win.
This team really cares about each other. We play as a very united team. We never quit, McKeown said. There’s nights we don’t always shoot the ball very well. And they’re the nights when we’ve gotten beat.
-Meghan Reardon contributed to this report
