The Revolutionaries (8-10, 1-5 A-10) were handed their second straight loss by a commanding St. Louis team (8-12, 3-4 A-10) Saturday afternoon, falling 66-56.
GW struggled on the perimeter, shooting a measly 22-59 from the field, a performance that could not compete against SLU’s quick-paced and efficient offense, which went 24-50. Three veteran graduate students led the team offensively — Guard Nya Lok anchored the Revs with 19 points, forward Mayowa Taiwo contributed on both ends of the court, adding 13 points and 11 boards, and Guard Essence Brown tacked on 12 points.
Sophomore Nya Robertson, who is usually a focal point of the offense, had a rather quiet game. Robertson offered a pair of buckets on six shots in her 34 minutes on the court. This offensive jam comes off a career-high 31-point showing from the guard in a victory against the Bonnies last week.
The Revs fought for the lead early in the first quarter but remained in a 10-15 point bubble deficit for much of the day, with SLU ahead for about 90 percent of the match. In the first and second quarters, GW went 4-14 and 5-21 from the field, respectively. But in the second half, GW was more selective with their shots, leading to a higher percentage at 8-14 and 5-10 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
The Revs were down by as much as 18 points toward the end of the half but broke out on a 12-2 run that cut St. Louis’ lead to 5 early in the third quarter. GW outscored the Billikens 34-29 in the second half, but their fiery play wasn’t enough to take the lead. St. Louis dribbled out the clock after some late game back-and-fourth scoring, solidifying a 10-point loss for the Revs.
Scoring has been a seasonlong struggle for GW. They currently sit at 14th — second to last out of their A-10 competitors in average points. The Revs average a lowly 59.1 points per game, while St. Louis ranks third in the conference, averaging 72 a night.
SLU inched out GW in the backcourt as well. The Billikens grabbed 33 rebounds against the home team’s 29, though six of St. Louis’ boards were off their own misses. GW offered a more distributed stat line with 11 offensive and 18 defensive rebounds but failed to capitalize on the second-chance possessions from their efforts. GW ranks the fourth-best rebounding offense in the conference and fifth on the defensive end.
The Revs showed cleaner ball handling with 15 turnovers compared to the opponent’s 20, but SLU evened out the disparity with 11 steals. GW had nine snags on the night.
After back-to-back losses, GW sits at 12th in the conference. St. Louis stays in the middle of the pack, ranked ninth after their wins against the Revs this week.
The Revs look to bounce back in a “battle of the Georges” against George Mason (13-3, 4-1 A-10) at noon Jan. 24. Catch the game live at the Smith Center or stream it on ESPN+ with the Monumental Sports Network.
