Women’s basketball (8-9, 1-4 A-10) fell to Dayton (8-9, 2-4 A-10) 71-53 on Wednesday night as the team continued to struggle offensively.
After winning their first conference game Sunday, a 78-62 victory over St. Bonaventure, the Revs were unable to carry the momentum into Wednesday against a Dayton team that came into the game near the bottom of the Atlantic 10.
The Flyers started the game on a 4-0 run, with GW unable to connect on their first three attempts from the field. Four minutes in, sophomore guard Nya Robertson was able to heat up as the team built an 8-6 lead behind her two 3-pointers. Robertson led the team with 22 points on 6-16 shooting, including 4-9 from three. She has been a key bright spot for the Revs this season, leading the team with 17.5 points per game, good for second in the A-10.
Dayton was able to end the quarter with a 20-12 lead as the Revs struggled on offense for the rest of the period, connecting on only four of their 18 attempts. The second quarter told a similar story, with Dayton entering halftime with a 40-25 lead as the Revs shot 4-15 in the quarter.
GW has had difficulty scoring the whole season, ranking 14th in the A-10, averaging 59.3 points per game.
Other than Robertson, graduate student guard Essence Brown was the only Rev to score in double figures, contributing 11 points on 3-11 shooting. She also brought down seven rebounds, the most on the team.
The second half saw the Revs attempt their comeback, crawling back to an 11-point deficit with four minutes remaining in the third quarter after graduate guard Nya Lok sunk a three to make the score 50-39. Lok finished with 8 points and five rebounds.
The Flyers were able to hold off the Revs’ comeback effort, as their lead never shrunk to single digits in the second half. Following Lok’s three, GW only scored one more point in the quarter, a free throw from sophomore forward Caia Loving with 30 seconds left.
The third quarter marked the highest scoring for the Revs at 15. Dayton on the other hand, scored at least 15 in every quarter, including 20 in both the first and second. GW shot 28.6 percent from the field throughout the game, well below Dayton’s 43.1 percent. The Revs saw some success from 3-point territory, however, going 8-18 from deep.
The fourth quarter saw more of the same, with GW only connecting on two shots out of eight attempts. They were able to find some success from the free-throw line, knocking down nine of eleven attempts, four from Brown and five from Robertson.
GW will look to right the ship against Saint Louis on Saturday, with the Billikens (7-11, 2-3) heading to D.C. for a game in the Smith Center at 2 p.m.
