Readers’ pick: Mayowa Taiwo
On Nov. 6, 2019, eight minutes and 40 seconds into the season opener against Villanova, forward Mayowa Taiwo checked into her first collegiate game.
While she managed only a small contribution in that game, 4 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes, her debut proved to be a key moment in GW women’s basketball history.
135 games later, Taiwo has appeared in more contests than anyone in program history, providing dominant defense and tenacious rebounding in all five of her years in the Buff and Blue. Taiwo said she’s proud of her record, although it wasn’t something she was paying attention to while playing, especially as player transfer rates have increased.
“I think it’s just a testament to loving GW, staying at GW,” Taiwo said. “Not everybody stays at one university for all their years of eligibility, and I’m really proud that I did that.”
The women’s basketball team struggled through much of the 2023-24 season, finishing 11th in the Atlantic 10 and losing nine of 10 games to start conference play. Taiwo herself struggled, too: The graduate student went through a seven-game stretch from December to January where she failed to reach double-digit scoring, shooting under 50 percent from the field in each contest. But Taiwo said she didn’t let this rough patch discourage her during her final season as a Revolutionary.
“Me, personally, knowing it was my last year, just remembering to have fun with it,” Taiwo said. “And I think the more loose you are, the better performance you can have. So I think that personally helped me get out of my rut.”
She ended the season with seven-straight double-digit rebound games, including a career-high 20 in a win against Massachussetts in February, which put her over 1,000 career board, third-most in program history. Taiwo played all 40 minutes in the UMass contest, a feat she accomplished four times this past season and eight times in her GW career.
In a Feb. 7 win against St. Bonaventure, Taiwo fell just short of a triple-double, notching 9 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high eight steals as the team coasted to a 21-point conference victory.
In the 2022-23 season, when GW finished seventh in the A-10, Taiwo earned a spot on the conference All-Defensive Team after ranking seventh in steals and fourth in rebounds in the conference. Her 142 offensive rebounds tied her for fourth-most in the country.
Although she has plenty of highlight-worthy moments on the court, Taiwo said time spent with her teammates are among the best moments she’s had at GW.
“Shout out to Faith [Blethen] and Essence [Brown], they’ve been here with me for the past five years,” Taiwo said.
As for on-court memories, Taiwo said that she couldn’t narrow down to just one specific moment but highlighted last-minute GW wins and close A-10 matchups.
“We’ve had some exciting buzzer-beaters,” Taiwo said. “I know I’ve had one buzzer-beater.”
Taiwo’s game-winner came in a November 2019 game against Memphis, less than two weeks after her collegiate debut. Down 1 point with just seconds remaining, Taiwo fought through defenders to lay the ball in, sealing a 64-63 win.
With her extensive college career now over, Taiwo, who studied engineering, said she is unsure what’s next for her.
“I don’t know if there’s basketball in my future,” Taiwo said. “It would be great to see it in my future, but for now I’m just trying to navigate what that looks like.”
