You can do all the little things, you can rebound on both ends of the court. You can play fast and force turnovers, but if the ball won’t go in the hoop, it’s hard to win a basketball game.

The No. 22 women’s basketball team (2-1) experienced that in an 84-63 loss to No. 15 Stanford on Saturday afternoon in Palo Alto, Calif. when they shot just 29.4 percent from the field. GW struggled to find the hole despite many chances earned by outrebounding the Cardinal 50-46, including 24 off the offensive glass.

“We were able to get a bunch of looks and offensive rebounds,” senior forward Jonquel Jones said. “We couldn’t capitalize on those quality chances and second opportunities that we had.”

Jones almost single-handedly staked the Colonials to the lead in the better part of the first half, scoring 20 of her 27 points in the opening act, with 12 straight for the Colonials in the first quarter. Jones finished with a double-double, adding 17 rebounds to her point total.

GW led 19-15 after the first period, and held a 26-25 lead with 6:11 to play in the half before the wheels fell off. GW managed just two baskets for the rest of the half, including a scoring drought of almost four minutes. Meanwhile, the Cardinals caught fire, ending the half on a 21-4 run.

“I thought in that first quarter we had a greater sense of urgency in keeping them out of the lane,” head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. “But in that second quarter we got caught in transition. We were back on our heels after offensive rebounds, and they got whatever they wanted. They had players dumping the ball inside, they sucked our defense in, and that led to some drive and kick opportunities.

Tsipis said that the Colonials were “back on our heels” after offensive rebounds and that the Cardinal pulled GW’s defense inside, then burned them by kicking the ball back outside and hitting shots, which turned into momentum.

“You could see that they were collectively gaining confidence from it,” Tsipis said. “And on our end, we were slowly losing confidence because the ball wasn’t dropping.”

The Cardinal run was inspired in particular by the long-range shooting of guards Lili Thompson and Karlie Samuelson, who shot a collective 7-12 from distance. While the Colonials shot a respectable 9-23 from beyond the arc, they could not compensate for their shooting woes elsewhere while the Cardinal stampeded to a 46.2 percent mark from the field in the game.

GW also struggled immensely to get to the foul line despite the implementation of the new post rules, which were supposed to garner more foul calls and free opportunities for offensive players heading into the season. GW managed just six free throws, while Stanford was able to capitalize on 15 of its 18 attempts.

“You have to have someone who understands [the rule change] and is trying to get the team to the double bonus,” Tsipis said. “It’s not just a matter of being stronger but it’s two fold in terms of the mindset. We have to have players that will say ‘Okay, I’m going to go up strong and maybe I get a charge called on me, but maybe it’s an and-one.’”

Tsipis added that the Colonials need to control every area of the game if they hope to beat the elite teams in the nation moving forward. A road loss to the No. 15 team is nothing to panic about, but given GW’s performance in the first half it seemed like a missed opportunity.

“We weren’t balanced or strong,” Tsipis said. “We need to be be great defensively and on the glass at all times. We had the 24 offensive rebounds, but we couldn’t finish on a higher level.”

Junior forward Caira Washington tacked on 10 points and 9 rebounds, and senior guard Lauren Chase added 9 points of her own in the loss.

After taking the loss, Jones said the team just needs to move on and make adjustments. Jones stressed the necessity to move on from this game, and to apply the necessary adjustments immediately.
“Whether you win or you lose, you look at every game and think about what you can do better. Losses often put things under a magnifying glass,” Jones said.

The Colonials will hope to bounce back in another West Coast game against Fresno State on Monday at 10 p.m. ET.