PHILADELPHIA – Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Petra Dubovcova helped lift the GW women’s basketball team to Monday’s A-10 Championship game against rival Xavier after defeating La Salle and UMass at the Liacouras Center Saturday and Sunday.
Dubovcova scored 37 points in the two games to return GW (25-4) to the final for the first time since losing to St. Joseph’s in the championship game three seasons ago.
We tried to feature her, Coach Joe McKeown said. We tried to get her the ball as much as we could.
GW will face Xavier Monday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. The Colonials beat the Musketeers Feb. 20 at the Smith Center, 70-68, but lost at Xavier, 68-55, Jan. 22. The Musketeers (25-4) entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West. Their only loss in their last 15 games was at GW.
Xavier reached the final by coming back from a large second-half deficit and defeating St. Joseph’s 84-78 in overtime Sunday night.
GW 66, UMass 55
Sunday, March 4
GW eliminated UMass from the A-10 Tournament with a 66-55 victory in a semifinal matchup Sunday night in Philadelphia.
UMass staged a late comeback, but the Colonials stopped the Minutewomen by hitting clutch free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
Dubovcova scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the first seven minutes of the second half before leaving the game with four fouls. GW led 46-41 when it went on a scoring binge to take a commanding lead. A-10 Sixth Player of the Year Kristeena Alexander entered the game with just under five minutes remaining and nailed back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to 52-41.
Kristeena drilled two big threes that I thought were backbreakers on UMass, McKeown said.
GW pushed the lead to 55-41 when senior Elisa Aguilar stole the ball at halfcourt and fed a no-look pass to Dubovcova for a layup and a foul, which she converted at the free-throw line.
Petra picked up four fouls but came back in and kept her poise, McKeown said.
UMass chipped away to narrow the lead to 11 and then ran off six straight points to trim the lead to 57-52 before GW held the Minutewomen off from the charity stripe. The Colonials went 27-of-33 from the line in the game.
We got a little sloppy in the last two and a half minutes from that stretch from about the six- or seven-minute mark to the last two minutes I thought we were terrific, McKeown said. I’m just a little flustered because we got sloppy at the end, and that’s not us. When you have senior guards that shouldn’t happen, and hopefully it won’t happen again.
The Colonials won despite shooting just 35 percent from the field but were able to hold the Minutewomen to 30 percent shooting.
Aguilar struggled from the floor, scoring 10 points on just 1-of-10 shooting. She did make all eight of her fouls shots.
I don’t want to make excuses for her because she’s not a player that ever makes excuses, McKeown said. She’s the toughest competitor I have ever had at GW. She couldn’t eat. She’s been sick, she’s had the flu all weekend. She’s a great player, a great competitor, and she’ll bounce back.
Both teams struggled from the floor in a first half that was tightly contested. Both schools hit just eight field goals in the first.
GW 75, La Salle 69
Saturday, March 3
Petra Dubovcova scored eight of her team-high 17 points in the final four minutes Saturday as GW survived a 75-69 scare in the quarterfinal round of the A-10 Tournament.
The GW junior’s offensive spurt that gave the Colonials a nine-point advantage with under a minute remaining started after La Salle’s Jen Zenszer (26 points) hit two free throws to bring the Explorers to within five points with 3:28 left.
After a 25-25 halftime tie, the Colonials managed a nine-point advantage halfway through the final 20-minute period, but La Salle was able to cut its deficit to 48-47 with seven minutes remaining.
GW struggled on the boards against a smaller La Salle (12-17) team, getting out-rebounded 43-31. Marlo Egleston finished the game with 13 points, Aguilar scored 12 points despite a 3-of-13 shooting performance, and Kristeena Alexander added 10.
Zenszer, who did not play in her team’s previous two meetings with GW this season, hit six three-point field goals (6-for-9 behind the arc) and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line for the upset-minded Explorers.
The Colonials are now 15-1 against La Salle all-time.
-Dustin Gouker contributed to this report.
