The GW women’s basketball team was probably a little embarrassed Sunday when it played Virginia Tech on national television in the Smith Center. The biggest crowd to ever see a GW women’s game was on hand. But the most vocal contingent of fans were loyal not to the Buff and Blue, but to the Hokies, and few GW students showed up.

So we figured you need some reasons to go to the games. Here are just a few:

1. These women are quite intelligent and well-balanced individuals. Our proof: GW’s very own Dr. Bonnie Morris (a.k.a. “the Dr. of Dunk”) raved about the academic ability of the Colonial women. “I’ve had several of the women in my classes, and they’ve always done extremely well,” Morris said. “They’re such great people, it makes it that much easier to root for them.” If you don’t believe Morris, perhaps you should take her course on women in sports, “Gender and Athletics.”

2. You get to watch two of the best players in the nation. If Noelia Gomez’s combination of grace and dominance in the paint isn’t enough to impress you, Elisa Aguilar’s stop-on-a-dime-pull-up-from-anywhere three-pointers will certainly make your jaw drop. Gomez and Aguilar are both considered among the best in the nation in their respective positions. Gomez graduates after this season and Aguilar will depart the season after that, so get their autographs while you still can.

3. You’ll get to see them win a lot. GW usually pulls out most of its games in Atlantic 10 play. So if you need to see a victory by one of our school’s teams to lift your spirits, a women’s game is often a good bet.

4. Head coach Joe McKeown is one of the best coaches to watch on the sideline. Hey, even if you don’t really like basketball, you can be entertained by Joe’s antics around the bench. Although the statistic is not kept in collegiate basketball, he may have the largest number of faces to make after an unfavorable call by the officials. And if you vocally disagree with a referee’s call, and you’re close enough, he might talk to you about it. So be loud and tell him what you think.

5. No offense to the men’s team, but the women are often better. Both teams usually have something to be proud of, but the performance of the Colonial women shows they are often the best team on campus. The men’s team has been to four NCAA Tournaments in the past six years, but the Colonial women have made the “Big Dance” seven of the past eight seasons. The women have won five consecutive Atlantic 10 regular season championships, a feat the men have yet to accomplish.

-Rich Murphy and Dustin Gouker are the sports editors of The GW Hatchet.