This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Nora Princiotti.
GW gutted out a 56-50 win over Loyola on Monday to bounce back from two straight losses.
It looked like Loyola’s type of game. The low-scoring affair was more in line with the Greyhounds gritty defense than the Colonials uptempo offense, but GW adapted and found a way to, as head coach Jonathan Tsipis put it, “win ugly.”
“I just thought we gutted it out. We tried to wear Loyola down,” Tsipis said.
From the very first whistle, the Colonials got after their opponents and created turnovers.
A Megan Nipe steal from Tiffany Padgett set up a jumper in the paint from freshman Hannah Schaible. Three turnovers from Loyola’s Nai Brown, one stolen by Schaible, lead to six GW points. Kara Marshall committed a ten-second violation that gave GW the ball back and another two points off a Caira Washington layup.
Just like that, the Colonials had opened the game with a 12-2 run fueled almost exclusively by their ability to capitalize off turnovers. GW scored 30 points off of Loyola’s 24 turnovers, while the Greyhounds managed just 15 points off the Colonials 20.
“I thought our kids got an activity level with the pressure, that when it did get on their side of the half court offensively, we just had a more active feed: our hands were where they needed to be, our help was there,” Tsipis said. “I think the greatest thing is that there were very few plays that our kids gave up on something.”
Beyond the turnovers, the Colonials held the Greyhounds to just 50 points and seven assists playing entirely man coverage.
The greatest challenge came from Nai Brown, who scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting.
“She’s a really talented kid and one of the things I thought she did really well was when we tried to take something away, she countered,” Tsipis said.
Freshman Caira Washington nabbed her second double-double in three games off a career-high 15 points and 13 rebounds – ten of which were defensive boards. She also added three blocks and three steals to round out her stat line.
She went 7-11 shooting, carving out good looks and looking more comfortable down low than she has of late, thriving in a game in which GW’s frontcourt outrebounded Loyola 43-33.
“Today I knew I had to battle with the post players,” Washington said, “just to get to the open spot, to the rim or [the opposite side].”
Graduate students Danni Jackson and Megan Nipe joined Washington in double-figure scoring – Jackson putting up 13, while Nipe added 11. It was a slow day for Nipe, who came in averaging over 18 ppg, though it may be comforting to the Colonials that they found a way to win without her getting hot.
Both Nipe and Jackson got attention from trainers in the game, Nipe having fallen on her shooting shoulder and Jackson rolling an ankle after being stepped on. Both players, however, were cleared to re-enter the game.
Despite their 20 turnovers and offensive struggles, a win is a win, especially coming in the midst of five games in eight days for the Colonials. Next up will be Morgan State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“I told the team for us to hold them to seven assists while forcing 24 turnovers is an accomplishment of the growth of us defensively. Now it’s a matter of putting the two sides together and for us to continue to improve,” Tsipis said.
