8:43 p.m. Myers makes another foul shot and a basket and the game ends with Xavier winning by a 72-56 final. Check out tomorrow’s print edition of the Hatchet and www.gwhatchet.com for full coverage. Thanks for reading.
8:41 p.m. Myers hits a pair of free throws and now has 15 points.
8:39 p.m. Mostafa continues to display her shooting ability and hits another jumper, her fourth today by my count. GW trails 72-51.
8:38 p.m. A mid-range jumper from Myers gives her 13 and makes it 72-49 Xavier with 2:20 left.
8:32 p.m. Wilson gets her first points on the next possession, meaning all seven available Colonials have scored in the game. GW trails 70-47.
8:30 p.m. Freshman Janine Davis hits a three for her first points of the night, then Harris banks a shot on the other end. Xavier leads 68-45 with 5:27 left.
8:29 p.m. A correction has just come in: That last Myers bucket was a three.
8:27 p.m. Myers takes a step-back jumper as the shot clock expires and the shot falls, eliciting one of the loudest cheers of the night. GW trails 66-42 during an official timeout at the 6:30 mark.
8:26 p.m. Mostafa gets into double digits with another score and the Colonials get a stop on the other end.
8:23 p.m. After a couple of Xavier scores, Mostafa works her way inside for a basket. She now has eight points. Xavier leads 66-37 with eight minutes left.
8:19 p.m. Nipe knocks down a three for GW and Xavier’s lead is 62-35 with 10:20 to play.
8:17 p.m. Rutan stays on the bench, icing her head as Moss takes Xavier’s free throws. She makes both and the Musketeers lead 60-30.
8:15 p.m. Shelton fouls Rutan as she drives for a layup, and Rutan stays down after hitting the court hard. The game is sent into a timeout and Rutan is helped to her feet by Xavier staff and walks off the court. The Musketeers will get two shots after the break, leading 58-30 with 11:50 left in the half.
8:11 p.m. Rutan heads to the line for Xavier, where she hits the team’s first successful foul shot of the day. She misses the second.
8:10 p.m. Shipp lofts up a little one-handed runner in the paint to crack the 30-point mark. GW trails by 24 with 14:16 left.
8:05 p.m. Nipe scores from mid-range and Ta’Shia Phillips responds with two on the other end. Xavier leads 54-28 inside of the final 16 minutes.
8:01 p.m. Myers scores on a layup in transition for GW’s first points of the second half.
8:00 p.m. It takes Ta’Shia Phillips all of nine seconds to get to the free-throw line in the second half, but she misses both shots. Xavier is now 0-for-6 on foul shots tonight. They shoot 69 percent for the season.
7:49 p.m. Well, Xavier spent the first half showing why it’s ranked seventh in the country. The Musketeers are shooting 64.5 percent from the field, with 24 of their points coming on threes and the other 24 coming in the paint. (They’ve missed all four of their free throws.) Three Xavier players are already in double figures: Tyeasha Moss has 12 points and Amber Harris and Ta’Shia Phillips each have 10. Katie Rutan is close to joining them, having scored nine already.
The Colonials have shot 38.5 percent thus far, with Shipp, Mostafa, and Myers leading them in scoring with six points apiece. Nipe already has five rebounds, though GW is still losing the battle on the boards 17-12. Most of the difference between these two teams came during a 21-3 run that Xavier went on midway through the first half, so the Colonials have mostly hung with the Musketeers outside of that one-sided stretch.
We’ll be back after halftime with more updates through the end of the game.
7:43 p.m. The Colonials get a stop in the final 30 seconds of the first half, then Myers breaks away for a layup. She is fouled with two seconds left and makes the second of two shots. The Musketeers can’t score in the final two ticks of the half and head into halftime leading the Colonials by a score of 48-24.
7:40 p.m. Rutan hits a three from the corner to put Xavier up 48-23. Nipe misses on the other end but gets her own rebound, though the possession ends with a Mostafa miss on a long jumper.
7:38 p.m. Harris scores on Xavier’s first possession after a GW miss coming out of the timeout and the Musketeers again lead by 22.
7:34 p.m. Shipp scores on a layup in transition – a nice take faking to her right then left before going up with her right again – to cut GW’s deficit to 20 at the 3:36 mark and prompt a Xavier timeout.
7:33 p.m. Nipe scores on a jumper from the corner, but Ta’Shia Phillips scores on the other end to keep Xavier ahead by 22, now by a 43-21 margin.
7:33 p.m. Moss hits her fourth three for the Musketeers and they’re now up by 22.
7:32 p.m. Shipp makes both shots and Xavier leads 38-19 with 5:15 left in the first half.
7:31 p.m. Myers scores in transition, followed by Shipp getting a steal and breaking away for a layup attempt. She’s fouled on the shot and will head to the line for two shots.
7:29 p.m. Myers bounces a pass to freshman Nicole Shelton under the basket off an inbound, but the shot misses, leading to a Xavier possession and basket. Shelton scores on the next GW possession, however, and it’s now 36-15 Xavier.
7:25 p.m. A couple of quick scores give Xavier a 34-13 lead. The Musketeers are currently on a 21-3 run.
7:23 p.m. Myers knocks down a three to break GW’s drought, but Xavier’s Katie Rutan responds in kind and gives her team a 30-13 lead.
7:21 p.m. Five points in about five seconds – a three and then a layup off a quick turnover – make it a 27-10 game and prompt Bozeman to call a timeout with 9:59 to play in the first half.
7:20 p.m. A three from Dee Dee Jernigan makes it a 9-0 Xavier run and gives the Musketeers a 22-10 lead with 10:36 left in the first half. Also, I forgot to mention that Allums is sitting on the bench with the team, though she is not in uniform. She is cheering along with her teammates on the bench.
7:18 p.m. Xavier has taken a seven-point lead at a timeout with 11:41 left in the half. Also, a pregame note I missed: sophomore Kay-Kay Allums has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Make that seven available players for GW.
7:13 p.m. Ta’Shia Phillips scores inside and it’s 15-10 Xavier at the 13-minute mark of the first half.
7:13 p.m. A third three from Moss gives Xavier a five-point lead, but its short-lived as Nipe scores a two on the other end to make it a three-point game.
7:12 p.m. Harris works her way inside for the Musketeers and scores, but Mostafa responds with another long jumper on the other end to keep GW within two.
7:12 p.m. Moss hits another three and now Xavier leads 8-6.
7:11 p.m. Tyeasha Moss hits a three for the Musketeers, cutting GW’s lead to one with about 15:45 left int he first half.
7:10 p.m. The Colonials use the whole shot clock and miss, but Wilson tips the ball to Myers to extend the possession. After using all 30 seconds once again, Myers passes it back to Mostafa, who hits a long jumper to put GW ahead 6-2.
7:09 p.m. Wilson is whistled for a foul on Ta’Shia Phillips, but she misses both shots and Mostafa pulls down the rebound for the Colonials.
7:08 p.m. A few possessions later, Shipp puts GW on the board and ties the game and Mostafa knocks down a short jumper to give GW a 4-2 lead with 17:20 left in the first half.
7:06 p.m. Xavier’s April Phillips opens the game’s scoring with a layup on the first possession, followed by a GW turnover.
7:02 p.m. GW’s starters: Sophomore Tiana Myers and freshman Megan Nipe at guard, freshman Shi-Heria Shipp and redshirt freshman Brooke Wilson at forward, and sophomore Sara Mostafa at center.
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Good evening and welcome to tonight’s live blog for the women’s basketball game against No. 7/7 Xavier (AP, ESPN/USA Today), which enters this game a perfect 6-0 in Atlantic 10 play and 16-3 on the season. Two of the Musketeers’ losses were on the road against teams taht were nationally ranked at the time (then-No. 21/24 Michigan State and current No. 19/21 LSU), with the other being a one-point home loss to Michigan. Xavier has also beaten two teams that were ranked (then-No.14/7 Arizona State and then-No.18/23 Kansas). The Musketeers are led in scoring and rebounding by 6-foot-6 junior center Ta’Shia Phillips (14 points and 9.7 rebounds per game) and 6-foot-5 classmate Amber Harris (14.6 points and 8.9 rebounds). Their starting point guard is named Special Jennings.
As for the Colonials, they recovered from a massive slump that saw them lose 13 of 14 games to win two in a row last week before losing Saturday at Saint Joseph’s. GW is 5-15 on the season and 2-5 within the A-10, currently putting the team in a four-way tie for ninth place among the conference’s 14 teams. As followers of the program know, the Colonials have been plagued by injuries this season and have just eight healthy players, all of which are underclassmen. Sophomore Tiana Myers is the team’s leading scorer this season and has averaged 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists in her last three games, while classmate Sara Mostafa has averaged 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds as the team’s starting center.
There are a few minutes until gametime, so we’ll be back shortly with starting lineups and updates throughout the game.
