Women’s basketball defeated Virginia University of Lynchburg 89-38 on Monday at the Charles E. Smith Center.
After the Revolutionaries led 35-23 at halftime, the team scored over 50 points in the second half, having a 66-15 run to nab their second win of the season. Freshman forward Miriam Diala recorded a double-double for the Revs off the bench, scoring 18 points and grabbing ten rebounds.
Graduate student guard Makayla Andrews tallied 16 points, and graduate student forward Paige Mott recorded 10 of her own. A-10 Rookie of the Week freshman forward Gabby Reynolds recorded 8 points but sat out the game’s last quarter.
Head Coach Caroline McCombs said she was impressed with Diala’s performance, but her performance in Monday’s game is only the beginning of what she can do at the collegiate level.
“She’s a big spark plug for us,” McCombs said. “On both sides of the ball, she’s really going to contribute to our program this year. I’m excited about her. She can score around the rim. She competes every single day in practice. She’s very mature for her age, so I think that her best basketball is still ahead, and people are able to see a little bit of what she can do tonight.”
Diala had played in nine minutes across the team’s first two games but did not record a point before her 18-point performance against the Dragons.
The Revs dominated the rebounding department, outperforming the Dragons 61 to 23. Mott said being first to rebound missed shots was vital to their 89-point performance.
“Our last game, we didn’t rebound as well as we could, so we’re just trying to make up for that,” Mott said.
The Dragons claimed nine fouls by halftime and 18 total in the game. The Revs capitalized on their foul trouble, going 16 of 23 from the free-throw line. Against Howard on Friday, the team shot 60 percent from the line.
The Revs started slowly, finding themselves in a 23-23 tie in the middle of the second quarter, but following halftime, the Revs’ defense didn’t allow the Dragons to get ahead. Mott broke the tie with 3:50 minutes left, and the Revs were up by 10 by the end of the quarter.
“It wasn’t acceptable for the way that we were defending at that point in time,” McCombs said. “We also weren’t taking the best shots within our offense.”
Mott also felt that during the first half, her team was playing down to the competition’s level and needed to find their game come the second half.
“I feel like when you play VA Lynchburg, it’s easy to play down at that level,” Mott said. “I think that’s where we were doing a little bit in the first half.”
The team found their game in the second half and closed out the Dragons, with 12 different players recording at least 1 point in the blowout victory. The Revs’ held the Dragons to 15 points in the second half en route to a dominating victory and scored 45 points off the bench.
The win brings the Revs’ record to 2-1 in the early season. GW will face the Ohio University Bobcats next on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Ohio University Convocation Center.
