Women’s basketball dropped its second straight game to Minnesota on the road Sunday afternoon.
The Colonials (1-2) were defeated by the Golden Gophers (3-1) in a low scoring affair 48-32. The Colonials shot a season low 19.2 percent from the floor, handing a program record for the Minnesota defense in a single game, but the GW defense also kept the Golden Gophers to a season low 48 points.
Graduate student forward Ty Moore finished the afternoon with eight points and eight rebounds while sophomore guard Aurea Gingras, junior guard Sheslanie Laureano and sophomore guard Taylor Webster accumulated six points apiece.
On the other side of the court, graduate student guard Deja Winters led all scorers with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks followed by junior guard Sara Scalia with 14 points and two assists.
Golden Gophers redshirt junior forward Kadi Sissoko scored all nine of her points in the first quarter, including a pair of threes to kickstart the Minnesota offense early and take the lead. She also collected eight defensive rebounds to help keep the Colonials to just 4-of-17 from the field in the quarter.
Despite the poor shooting performance, junior guard Essence Brown hit a bank shot to bring the Colonials back within single digits by the quarter’s end with a score of 16-8.
Scalia began the scoring in the second quarter, driving toward the basket and converting a layup despite being chopped down by Moore. Scalia converted the free throw as well to establish a double-digit lead over the Colonials.
GW finally got their first points of the quarter with 6:15 left to play, courtesy of a three point bucket from Laureano. Gingras hit a jumper on the next possession to cut the lead to 21-13 before Scalia sank a deep three with 3:39 left.
With 2:22 left, Webster ended the Colonials three-minute scoring drought with a jumper just outside the key. After a missed three attempt by Winters, Brown attempted a layup off the fast break but Winters stuffed the chance from behind before marching down the court two possessions later and finishing a Euro step layup.
At the sound of the halftime buzzer, the Colonials trailed 28-15 and had shot just 7-of-31 from the field while sinking just 1-of-7 from deep.
After trading several two-point buckets to start the second half, Scalia hit another deep three with 7:16 left in the quarter. Scalia followed it up with yet another less than four minutes later, this time from the corner, to put Minnesota up 38-19. Winters swatted another attempted layup from Brown to close out the quarter.
The Colonials shooting woes continued in the second half, as they hit just 2-of-11 from the field, 0-of-3 from deep and 1-of-4 from the free throw line. By the end of the third, the Colonials trailed by the largest deficit of the game at 40-20.
GW struck first for the first time in the fourth quarter, thanks to a pair of free throws by Webster. Freshman forward Sophie Haydon also scored her second layup of the season after Brown found her inside the paint while dribbling away from Winters with 6:40 left to play. Haydon’s layup would be the only field goal of the quarter for the Colonials as they would finish the game 1-of-9 from the floor, but 10-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Winters scored all eight of Minnesota’s points in the fourth quarter, highlighted by an uncontested three with 4:06 left and a contested jumper just outside the key with 1:41 left to close out the game.
The Colonials will continue their road swing Thursday night when they head to Norfolk, Va. to take on Old Dominion for a 6:30 p.m tipoff.
