Women’s basketball squandered a 16-point halftime lead and fell behind late in the fourth quarter.
But senior guard Brianna Cummings helped the Colonials (8-9, 3-2 A-10) stage a late-game rally to earn a win over Davidson (7-12, 2-4 A-10) Wednesday night on the road.
GW’s 53–48 victory over the Wildcats moved the team into sixth place in the Atlantic 10.
Cummings led the Colonials with 20 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes, while senior forward Kelli Prange added 10 points and eight rebounds of her own in 20 minutes – the most action she’s seen since she returned from a concussion injury earlier in January.
The Wildcats put together a 31-10 run between the third and fourth quarters and secured a 42–37 lead with just six minutes to play. During the final stretch, Cummings scored nine points and helped GW fight back for the five-point win.
“I know I have to bring the focus offensively and knock down shots,” Cummings said. “I’m still trying to treat every game as a learning experience and feed off of my teammates.”
Both sides shot poorly from the field, with Davidson connecting on 33.3 percent of its attempts and the Colonials shooting a 31.0 percent clip. However, GW scored 19 points on 20 Wildcat turnovers – allowing the Colonials to get several easy looks at the basket.
“I think in our non-conference schedule we would get frustrated because other teams were scoring on us,” head coach Jennifer Rizzotti said. “But we’ve shown that we can be flexible in our defense, whether that’s the full-court trap or playing a zone, or sticking man-to-man.”
A slow pace defined the first quarter, as neither team hit a single field goal in the first three minutes.
The Colonials found the basket first and led 9–0 after the first quarter. During the frame, Davidson shot 0-15 and was held scoreless for the first time since the NCAA changed the women’s game from halves to quarters in 2016.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats found the scoreboard but were unable to handle the ball against an aggressive GW defense – committing nine turnovers in the period. In the meantime, GW got hot – embarking on a 15-3 run over a five-minute span to take a commanding 27–11 lead heading into the half.
The contest shifted over the final 20 minutes, and what appeared to be a cakewalk for GW, turned into a dogfight in the third quarter. The Colonials struggled to beat Davidson’s full-court trap defense, and the Wildcats found energy on the offensive end.
Wildcats junior guard Justine Lyon dominated the quarter, scoring nine points in the first five minutes and making plays for the Wildcats at the end of the shot clock.
By the end of the third, Davidson had stormed back to tie the game at 32 apiece.
After the Wildcats grabbed their first lead in the fourth quarter, Rizzotti said the Colonials attempted to refocus and stop the game from escaping their hold.
“We didn’t look at it as a chance to dwell,” Rizzotti said. “We said ‘listen, let’s start all over again and win this 10 minute game.’”
GW scored 21 points in the fourth quarter – more than four times its third quarter total.
The Colonials will stay on the road as they challenge Dayton – who are a perfect 6-0 in the A-10 – on Sunday afternoon in Ohio. Tip-off is slated for noon.
