Women’s basketball (1-1) lost to crosstown rival Howard (2-1) 69-66 Friday, failing to profit off a second-half comeback.
The Revs were able to build up a lead in the fourth quarter after trailing by ten points at halftime, which ultimately was not enough to win the affair. Freshman guard Gabby Reynolds proved to be a strong bright spot despite the tough loss, scoring 22 points in her second collegiate game, on 7/15 shooting.
“Gabby’s continuing to emerge as a Division I player here,” Head Coach Caroline McCombs said. “The ball is in her hands a lot, and we leave her on the floor. She can make plays and shoot the ball, so I think she’s getting used to the pace of the game, the style of play, those kinds of things.”
Thirty seconds after tipoff, the Bison opened the game with a layup, starting an early 7-point scoring run that led the Revs unable to earn a basket until the second minute of the game. Sophomore guard Kamari Sims picked up the Revs’ first points of the game, with a layup bringing the score to 7-2. The first quarter finished with the Revs down 17-9 after they made only 25 percent of their field goal attempts.
The second quarter started with graduate forward Mariona Planes Fortuny sinking a layup to match the Bison’s layup 30 seconds in the quarter. Fortuny led the Revs with 14 rebounds in the game, with Reynolds following with eight rebounds. Graduate student forward Paige Mott’s successful layup and free throws, followed by Reynolds’ driving layup tightened the lead to a seven point differential, putting the Revs down 14-21.
As the clock dwindled down in the second quarter, the Revs and Bison fought basket for basket. After a two-minute scoring dry spell for the Revs, graduate student guard Makayla Andrews scored a bucket, as well as sophomore forward Sara Lewis, putting the Revs down 25-35 entering halftime.
McCombs said going into the second half of the game, her message to the team was to fight back and move past the beginning part of their game when the Revs struggled with scoring droughts and ball possession.
“We knew we were going to have a tough matchup at Howard and so don’t think we started the game that way, so just reiterating that is how we need to come out in the second half and obviously be hungry,” McCombs said. “We’re down 10 and so we had to fight back.”
Howard defeated Florida A&M 78-66 on the road for their first game last week, shooting 30/57 from the field.
The script flipped in the second half, and GW were able to outscore the Bison 19-9 in the third quarter. GW was able to build a 44-41 lead with two minutes left in the quarter, after Andrews sunk two free throws. However, a jumper and a free throw from Howard tied the game to end the quarter.
McCombs said that the team was able to find more success in all phases of the game during their third-quarter turnaround and were able to execute the game plan in the way they had intended.
“I think we got to the free throw line an unbelievable amount tonight,” McCombs said. “We just didn’t knock all of them down.”
Out of 41 free throw attempts, the Revs only made 25, which was good for 61 percent.
GW had an early lead in the fourth quarter when Mott successfully dropped two free throws, which was shortly followed by a layup from the Bison that tied the game. The game was largely back-and-forth until there were five minutes left on the clock, when two Howard free throws and jumper put them up 3 points — a lead which GW was unable to come back against as Howard continued to rack up points.
Women’s basketball will tip off against Virginia University of Lynchburg Monday on home territory at 6 p.m.
