4:05 p.m. And that’s a wrap. GW once again opens its season with a victory over UMBC, this one by a score of 75-56, pretty close to last year’s 79-59 final. The game ended with five freshmen on the floor as Kayla Miller dribbled out the clock. Check www.gwhatchet.com for a full update later.
3:54 p.m. Tara Booker’s third three-pointer of the afternoon has GW enjoying its first double-digit lead of the contest, up 66-54 with 3:38 remaining. Booker also grabbed a jump ball that resulted in a GW possession on the defensive end. She and Myers have both seemed comfortable on the court and contributed immediately.
3:45 p.m. A bit of a scare there as Abiona was slow to get up from a multi-player collision in the paint that resulted in her being fouled. Abiona missed all of last season to to injury, but appears to be fine after walking down court and smiling.
3:40 p.m. Things are getting a bit more comfortable for GW, who now lead 58-49 with 7:43 left. Myers has shown that she is not afraid to shoot in her first career game, as she is second on the team with 10 attempts. She now has 11 points, the last three of which came on a traditional three-point play as she was fouled while driving to the basket and scoring. She also has four rebounds and two assists.
3:33 p.m. Colonials holding on to a narrow 52-49 lead with just over 10 to play. There hasn’t been a shortage of action all game, with both teams running the floor and things getting hectic on each end. “This game is gonna give me a stroke,” one fan was overheard saying.
3:27 p.m. Official timeout after Tara Booker hits her second trey of the game for a 50-45 GW lead with just under 12 to play. The Colonials had temporarily lost the advantage a few minutes ago, but Allums hit a jumper off an offensive rebound by Jamila Bates to regain it. Booker has eight points now, tied with Myers and Parrish for second on the team behind Jessica Adair’s baker’s dozen.
3:16 p.m. About five minutes into the second half and GW leads 44-38. Myers hit a nice jumper just now and made a good play following her own shot for a rebound earlier in the half.
Men’s basketball player Jabari Edwards just won the Pita Pit dance contest, with his reward being five free sandwiches at the establishment. The team is sitting front and center in the student section and received some applause when last night’s victory over BU was announced to the crowd.
2:54 p.m. The Colonials open up a small lead in the half’s final minutes and now lead 36-33 at the break. Abiona, who has five rebounds, had another big block on a jumper, which translated into a game-tying basket on the other end. UMBC coach Phil Stern was vocally unhappy with the lack of a whistle on Abiona’s block and received a technical foul from the officials. Parrish hit one of two free-throws to give GW the lead and Jessica Adair added another basket in the half’s final seconds.
Parrish began to assert herself towards the end of the half after being a non-factor early. She had two nice drives to the hoop for layups over defenders and she now has eight points. She could be in for a bigger second half as she appears to be getting into somewhat of a groove.
Cassidy leads all scorers with 23 at the break, 21 of which came in the game’s first 12 minutes or so. She appeared to be frustrated after being called for a travel on what would have been her ninth missed shot of the game.
2:45 p.m. Coach Bozeman does not look happy just before the current break in action. His team is trailing 33-27 now in what has been a pretty fast-paced contest. GW is taking better care of the ball than they had been earlier, as they had four turnovers in the game’s first four minutes and have had just four since then. Jessica Adair has scored just once – on a free-throw – since scoring GW’s opening six points.
2:39 p.m. Erica Rivera scores on a fast break off a steal near mid-court and GW now trails just 28-25 with 5:17 left until the break. Cassidy has gone cold for UMBC, with her shots that were falling before now rimming out. Ivy Abiona had a huge block that energized the crowd, which has grown in size and volume as the game has progressed.
2:33 p.m. GW has cut their deficit to 28-21 after Myers hits a pair of free throws and also drains a three. We’ve seen a lot of the freshmen thus far and Myers and Booker in particular have been productive in their time on the floor, keeping the Colonials in the game with some big baskets. Allums and Kayla Miller have also played and at one point three-fifths of the Colonials on the floor were first-year players.
2:27 p.m. Colonials trail 27-15 after Tara Booker scores off an offensive rebound. Booker also hit a three-pointer to break a long scoring drought before and has been very active on defense. Carlee Cassidy now has 21 points for the Retrievers.
2:19 p.m. Retrievers lead 20-8 with over 12 to go until the half. UMBC continues to get open looks outside and just got one from mid-range as well. Cassidy has 16 points already, 12 of which have come from beyond the arc. UMBC appears to be working the ball around until something opens up while GW rotates through its zone, and that hole has opened for Cassidy fairly often. She has shown an ability to drive to the hoop as well and GW does not appear to have an answer for her thus far.
2:11 p.m. The two teams have exchanged familiar possessions thus far, with GW working it inside to Jessica Adair and UMBC’s Carlee Cassidy taking threes on the other end. Cassidy took five of the Retrievers’ first six shots – all threes – and connected on three of them. UMBC’s Michell Kurowski just hit a jumper of her own to give UMBC an 11-6 lead with under 17 to go. Adair has all six of GW’s points thus far.
2:04 p.m. Lineup change: Freshman Tiana Myers and junior Stefani Munro are starting in place of Steele and Rivera at guard. The stands have filled in a bit more in the last few minutes and there is a considerable contingent of UMBC supporters among them. Tip off coming soon.
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Greetings and welcome to the live blog for the women’s opening contest against the UMBC Retrievers. In just over eight minutes the two teams will be tipping off here at Smith center. At last count there were approximately 30 people in the student section, many of which appear to not be students or are considerably older than their fellow undergrads. The Colonials could be heard engaging in some pre-game singing of some sort in their locker room and appear to be focused during their ongoing shootaround.
GW’s projected starters are Erica Rivera and Lisa Steele at guard, Antelia Parrish and Ivy Abiona at forward, and Jessica Adair at center. No real surprises there, as it was the same lineup used in the exhibition with DT3 last week.
One new look for the Colonials is that of Kay-Kay Allums, who is sporting a new mohawk hairstyle.
