The GW women’s basketball team’s rough season continued this afternoon as the Colonials began their conference season with a narrow 59-55 loss to Dayton.
After scoring the first basket of the game, the Colonials (3-11, 0-1 Atlantic 10) quickly found themselves trailing 10-2 less than three minutes into the game. They were able to match the Flyers for most of the rest of the first half, heading into halftime trailing by seven.
GW got within five early in the second half, but Dayton was able to stretch its lead to as many as 12 over the next few minutes. The Colonials’ deficit shrunk and grew the rest of the second half until they cut it to four points in the final two minutes.
The margin would never get smaller, however, as the Flyers were able to stay afloat with foul shots and GW misses, the last being a three-point attempt by sophomore Tiana Myers in the final 10 seconds. Dayton was able to secure the rebound and hold on as the clock expired to grab its first win of A-10 play.
Though they were able to overcome a size disadvantage to keep pace with the Flyers in the rebounding department, the Colonials turned the ball over 22 times, helping give their opponents six more shot attempts in the game.
“It was like every time we made a good play, every time we went on a run, we had these turnovers and that kind of seemed like it brought the pace of the game down,” sophomore center Sara Mostafa said.
Mostafa finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, both good for second on the team. Myers led GW with 12 points and redshirt freshman Brooke Wilson had 11 rebounds and a team-best four steals.
Dayton came into the game with an impressive resume that included wins over two teams – Michigan State and Purdue – that were nationally ranked at the time of their meeting. The Flyers received votes in both of the most recent national polls, but GW head coach Mike Bozeman said this is no time to look at a loss through rose-colored glasses.
“It’s my job to grow weary of moral victories right now,” Bozeman said. “Listen, let’s keep it real: I’ve never lost this much in my life. It’s not comfortable for me at all. It’s not satisfactory for me at all.”
“Okay, we got some injuries,” he added. “Okay, these other guys we recruited too. We gotta play. And we got some pieces.”
GW’s season continues Wednesday at Rhode Island, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
