Women’s basketball (10-15, 3-10 A-10) earned a 71-49 win Wednesday, taking down La Salle (7-17, 4-9 A-10) in the Smith Center.
The win marks the Revs’ third conference win this season and their second in three games after taking down St. Bonaventure last Wednesday. GW was particularly dominant on defense, allowing just 18-of-57 shooting and 16 first-half points from the Explorers.
“We feel pretty good,” freshman guard Kamari Sims said. “It’s a big confidence booster into our game against George Mason. They’re a pretty good team, so having this confidence and having this high energy that we had coming outside this game gave us a lot of confidence for the game on Saturday.”
The game didn’t eclipse 5 total points until over seven minutes in when a layup from senior guard Asjah Inniss gave GW a 5-2 lead. The quarter ended with the Revs commanding a 9-5 lead. La Salle only made one shot from the field in the period out of their 12 attempts.
GW struggled shooting, as well, failing to connect on their first seven attempts from 3-point territory. This drought ended with four minutes left in the second quarter, when sophomore guard Nya Robertson connected on a 3-pointer to extend the GW lead to 18-14.
Robertson had difficulties scoring for much of the first half, making only two of her first ten shot attempts. However, a block from graduate student forward Mayowa Taiwo with four seconds remaining gave Robertson an opportunity for a miracle shot.
Robertson dribbled up the court with the clock ticking down, releasing the ball just before the buzzer expired as she crossed half-court. The ball hit off the backboard and bounced back into the net, sending GW into halftime with a 28-16 lead. She finished the game with 25 points off 7-20 shooting.
“I just threw that buck up there and hoped it went in,” Robertson said. “And it did.”
La Salle opened the third quarter on a 14-6 run, cutting the deficit to four shortly after the six-minute mark. But GW responded with 3-pointers from Robertson and Inniss to extend their lead back to double digits. The quarter ended with GW in command 48-32.
Both GW and La Salle had their highest-scoring quarters in the fourth, totaling 23 and 17 points, respectively. Graduate student guard Madison Buford punctuated the game with a steal and 3-point shot to bring the score to 71-49 as time expired.
“We have to build from here,” Head Coach Caroline McCombs said. “Our schedule is already laid out for us, we know who we’re going to play, we have to go and compete. We have teams that we’ve already played at George Mason and Duquesne, so what are those adjustments that we can make? How can we be better and learn from the first time that we played them?”
The Revs will travel to Fairfax, Va., to take on George Mason this Saturday at 3 p.m.
