Women’s basketball (8-10, 1-6 Atlantic-10) fell 65-56 to Virginia Commonwealth (10-10, 4-4 A-10) at the Smith Center on Wednesday, losing momentum in a final stretch plagued by missed free throws, fouls and turnovers.
The Revolutionaries’ defeat marked the team’s fifth consecutive loss after a tense back-and-forth in the first three quarters. Freshman guard Gabby Reynolds and sophomore forward Sara Lewis led GW’s scoring, bringing in 13 points each, but Reynolds struggled to counter VCU’s blocks and fast breaks, while Lewis was diluted by four personal fouls.
Head Coach Caroline McCombs said the game “slowed down” in the third quarter, which caused the team to lose momentum. She said the team must “find that consistency,” adding that once the Rams were able to build a lead in the third quarter, they were able to maintain it because the Revs weren’t “sharing and moving the ball” as well as they had been early in play.
“I’ve been saying it’s just putting all four quarters together, like we have to go play 20 more minutes of solid basketball,” McCombs said. “There can’t be any let ups.”
The Revs struggled to gain their footing at the start of the first quarter, calling a timeout after VCU secured three jumpers and two 3-pointers to bring the score to 12-2 within the first three minutes of the game. Senior forward Maxine Engel led the team’s recovery, scoring 6 points from beyond the arc that left VCU with a slim 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.
GW found its rhythm in the second quarter, scoring a game high of 20 points and making 56 percent of its field goals, narrowing the gap at the end of the quarter and shaving VCU’s lead down to 37-36. But the team’s free throw performance waned as graduate student forward Paige Mott missed both opportunities from the line at the two-minute mark.
The Revs came out of halftime strong, first outscoring the Rams to take on a 5-point lead. They began to fall behind as the Rams capitalized on their free throw openings, making 89 percent of the shots, with GW committing seven personal fouls — its highest total of the game.
“It got away kind of in that third quarter, with the free throws, the game kind of stopped, slowed down,” McCombs said. “I did think we had a lot of momentum, and then we were fouling.”
The Rams propelled their 53-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter, scoring from beyond the arc within the first 30 seconds, while the Revs stumbled into four fouls and a series of missed shots. As the Rams widened the gap with two 3-pointers, four free throws and a layup, the Revs called three timeouts in the last minute of the game. The 7 points GW secured throughout the quarter couldn’t surmount VCU’s momentum to hail a victory.
Wednesday’s loss moves the Revs to 1-6 in A-10 play, the team continuing to struggle to find its footing amid a losing streak. Despite flashes of promise, GW has been unable to close out games and reverse its downward trajectory.
“We talk about consistency a lot in the little things, so keeping our heads down, working hard,” Engel said. “We’ve got to keep our energy up if we want to find that win eventually because it’s there, we have all the pieces, but we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t have the right attitude, the right effort every single day.”
The Revs will travel to face George Mason (16-3, 6-2 A-10) on Saturday, with a tip-off set for 3 p.m.
