This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Nora Princiotti.

Who: GW (2-1) vs. USC Upstate Spartans (3-3)

Where: Smith Center

When: Monday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

Case for USC Upstate:

The Colonials come into Monday’s game as the obvious favorite, but the Spartans will have a couple factors working in their favor.

Last year, USC outshot the Colonials 36.4 to 25 percent. Though that’s merely a footnote to a story that ends with a 48-37 GW victory, it would be huge for the Spartans to create that kind of disparity again against a Colonials team that, so far, has lived and died by its ability to shoot the ball.

GW may be vulnerable to this, especially coming off a 87-51 loss to Maryland. The Colonials were silenced from downtown, sinking none of their 15 attempts shooting from three. The Terrapins are a great team, but many of those shots were barely contested and should have found the bottom of the net. If GW can’t get back to hitting its mark, the door will be open, at least a crack, for the Spartans.

USC Upstate, on the other hand, will come in riding high off a 58-57 defeat of South Carolina State on a buzzer-beating jumper with three-tenths of a second remaining in the game, after trailing by as much as 19 points. That’s remarkable resilience from a team with six newcomers on its 12 woman squad.

If the Spartans continue to knock the Colonials off their shooting game and limit points from downtown, they could have a shot at sending GW reeling with an upset.

Case for GW:

The Colonials statement win of this young season was a 75-72 win over then-No. 10 California, who was coming off a 70-58 loss to Duke. Upstate also recently fell to the Blue Devils, but instead of California’s respectable mark, the Spartans were demolished 123-40. If Duke is a benchmark, GW has beaten much better teams this year.

Gone from the Spartans roster are Tee’Ara Copney, last years leading scorer, and Lauren McRoberts, whose 12 points made her the only player for USC to hit double digits against GW last year.

The Colonials also have a strong height advantage, USC Upstate has only two players listed at 6 foot, and none above that. GW is not a particularly large team, and usually relies more on speed than size, so the rare height advantage will only add to their attack. Look for the Colonials to feed 6’2” freshman Caira Washington in the post for easy points.

As long as GW’s shots find the basket a decent percent of the time, the Colonials should cruise to an easy victory against a weak opponent.