Women’s basketball (8-8, 1-3) snapped their three-game losing streak with a 78-62 win over St. Bonaventure (4-12, 1-4) Sunday, Jan. 14, giving them their first win in conference play.
Sophomore guard Nya Robertson paced the Revs’ offensive attack, pouring in a career-high 31 points on 10-21 shooting. The monster performance placed her second all time on GW’s single-game scoring list, just 5 points behind Kelli Prange’s record 36.
Robertson got off to a scorching-hot start, knocking down five consecutive 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the game. Her 15 first-quarter points matched the Bonnies’ collective total for the period.
Along with Robinson, graduate student guard Nya Lok provided the Revs with a one-two scoring punch, chipping in 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, two assists and a steal on 6-13 shooting. Lok’s eight rebounds were her highest in a single game so far this season.
Minus Robinson’s sizzling shooting, the Revs’ looked sluggish on offense, shooting 34.4 percent in the first half of the game. The Bonnies shot 46.4 percent in the first half, and both teams went into halftime tied 35-35. GW was able to make up for their overall shooting deficit with success from the 3-point line, knocking down eight from behind the arc in the first half compared to the Bonnies’ three.
Graduate student guard Essence Brown contributed one of these 3-pointers in addition to grabbing her season-high of rebounds with nine. She finished with 6 points alongside two assists and two blocks.
Senior guard Asjah Inniss also had a season high in points, blocks and 3-pointers made off the bench. Inniss scored 14 points, made four 3-pointers and two blocks, tying Essence Brown for the game-high in blocks. GW outscored the Bonnies in bench scoring 19 to 15.
The pace of the game picked up after halftime, with the Revs going on a 14-3 run immediately to start the third quarter. They shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and 71 percent from three in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Bonnies were able to narrow GW’s lead to 6. However, around the six-and-a-half minute mark, the Revs began to tighten up their defense just as their offense kicked back into gear. After that point, The Revs only missed two more shots and allowed just 4 St. Bonaventure points for the rest of the game.
Graduate student forward Mayowa Taiwo dominated on the defensive end all game, pulling down eight rebounds and snagging four steals. With those eight rebounds, Taiwo moved into fifth place on GW’s career rebounds list with 879, 82 away from former WNBA MVP and current New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones who sits in fourth place all-time.
The Revs struggled with turnovers all game, giving the ball away 18 times, compared to the Bonnies’ 17. The Bonnies were better at capitalizing off GW’s giveaways, scoring 23 points off turnovers, compared to GW’s 9.
The Revs made up for their offensive cough-ups with a deluge of second-chance scoring, recording 17 second-chance points compared to St. Bonaventure’s 8.
With the win, the Revs move to 8-8 overall on the season and 1-3 in the Atlantic 10 conference, where they are now in 11th place.
The squad will look to improve their conference standing Wednesday, Jan. 17, when they take on Dayton (7-9, 1-4) at 7 p.m. at the UD Arena.
