Senior Anna Monta?ana appears to be peaking at the right time. After scoring a career-high 26 points in a 65-60 win over St. Joseph’s Thursday, she came up big again Sunday.
In the GW women’s basketball team’s 75-66 overtime win over Xavier at the Smith Center, the forward set a new career high for the second straight game, scoring 27 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
“She does whatever it takes, she spots Kim Beck at the point and plays all five positions for us,” GW coach Joe McKeown said of Monta?ana, who shot 10-for-16 from the floor Sunday. “She is looking to score and we are starting to look a little more for her to score, maybe even too much.”
The win vaulted the youthful Colonials (18-7, 11-3 Atlantic 10) into a three-way tie for first place in the A-10 West with Xavier (17-8, 11-3 A-10) and Richmond (20-5, 11-3 A-10). If the season ended Sunday, the Colonials would be the top seed and earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which will be held at the Smith Center Mar. 4-7.
The two recent wins were also significant for McKeown, who moved into the Top 50 in all-time Division I victories. He now has 426 wins.
Sunday, the Colonials appeared to have the game under control late, leading 65-62 with just one minute remaining in regulation. With just 47 seconds remaining in regulation, A-10 scoring leader Tara Boothe (20 points) drained a three-pointer to cut the GW lead to two.
After a GW turnover, Boothe drove into the lane with less than 10 seconds remaining, dished the ball to Adeola Olanrewaju (10 points) for a wide open lay-up that tied the game at 65 with 2.7 seconds left. Monta?ana heaved a shot at the buzzer, but could not get the shot to fall, and the game went to overtime.
However, the Colonials’ defense dominated the extra frame, allowing only one Musketeers field goal. Monta?ana notched six of her 27 in overtime, as GW outscored Xavier 10-1 to seal it.
“I am competitive, I like to be the leader,” said Monta?ana, who was named A-10 Player of the Week. “I have great players around me and they are learning so much, we are really learning to play together and its getting much easier out there.”
The game avenged the Colonials’ 57-42 loss at Xavier Jan. 16. The Musketeers are now 1-9 all-time at the Smith Center.
Senior Jessica Simmonds (21 points) had a strong outing for GW, overcoming an apparent injury suffered in the first half. After making a lay-up, she fell awkwardly on her right ankle. Simmonds writhed in pain for a few minutes on the floor before limping off the court for treatment. To the satisfaction of GW fans, she returned several minutes later and finished the game strong, scoring several key baskets down the stretch.
The teams see-sawed back and forth in the first. The Colonials built a 23-17 lead with four minutes left before the half before going into the break leading 30-26.
Freshman point guard Kimberly Beck (9 points, 5 assists), who has been a force for McKeown’s club this season, had a quiet game until late in the second half. With the game tied at 46 at the nine minute mark, she took away an apparent easy basket with an athletic block. Then with 7:50 remaining and GW up 50-46, she woke up offensively, hitting a floater and a three-pointer on consecutive possessions to give for her first four points of the game. The short flurry extended the Colonials’ lead to 55-49.
The Musketeers fought back, going on an 11-4 run to take a 60-59 lead with 3:41 left. However, Monta?ana scored the game’s next six points to give GW a five-point lead before Boothe’s late heroics.
“I was a little too excited in the first half because this was a big game,” Beck said. “In the second half I started to calm down and feed off of Anna and my teammates.”
Beck was named the A-10 rookie of the week for the sixth time on Saturday, also moving past Kathy Marshall for the most assists by a freshman in program history. Beck’s 133 assists are also the 12th most for a Colonial in a season.
GW’s role players played significant parts in the Colonials’ victory. Sophomore Whitney Allen (8 points, 8 rebounds) and classmate Kenan Cole (4 points, 7 rebounds) each had solid performances. Freshman Sarah-Jo Lawrence provided a spark of the bench, scoring six points in 15 minutes.
But Senior Liz Dancause, who did not score, might have done the most for GW in limited duty.
“If I had a game ball to give I would give it to Liz Dancause,” McKeown said. “She kept everyone solid and she does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
GW has won five consecutive games including the win over St. Joseph’s Thursday. It was the third straight road win for the Colonials, who were coming off victories at Duquesne and Richmond.
It was the first meeting between the two rivals since the Hawks knocked the Colonials out of the A-10 Tournament in the semifinal.
GW will look to finish its season next weekend at home versus Duquesne (9-16, 4-10 A-10) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and La Salle (11-4, 5-9 A-10) on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
McKeown understands the importance of the games, which do not look imposing on paper. The Explorers handed GW an ugly 65-63 loss on Feb. 4.
“We are not trying to look past the end of the regular season because we want to have that bye,” McKeown said. “At (18-7) I think we should start to get some votes in the Top 25. You look at the schedule we have played and what we have done. I want to create some excitement for our program nationally during the next two weeks.”
