This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Josh Solomon.
With 13 seconds left and a two point lead against the No. 10/11 team in the nation, graduate student Megan Nipe shook off a miss at the free throw line. She took a deep breath and knocked down the second attempt to put GW up by three.
Cal dribbled down the floor, hurried up a three-pointer, rebounded and put up another attempt. Her shot missed, the ball was tipped in the air and the buzzer sounded as the Colonial bench and Colonial Army stormed the court to celebrate the upset.
Nipe had iced the game with her final free throw and made GW’s 75-72 win possible with her career high 31 points, including four three-point field goals and seven rebounds.
“In the past I would be worried more about focusing on how not to miss and I think that these past few games its more just focusing on making my shot. I know how to shoot free throws, I’ve shot a million of them in practice,” Nipe said. “When I missed the first one, as I’m sure you all saw, but it didn’t change my confidence in the second one. I know how to shoot it and I just went up there and shot it.”
The Colonials and Golden Bears battled back and forth the entire game, tallying six lead changes and nine ties, until two tough defensive stands – and two key charges by Nipe – gave GW the victory.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that we lacked talent; they may be bigger, but we were faster,” Nipe said. “We prepared all week and we knew that not only could we compete but we could win.”
With just over three minutes to play, junior Chakecia Miller pushed the ball up the floor and dished it to trailing graduate student Danni Jackson at the top of the key. She adjusted her feet behind the line and buried the three to put GW back up, 69-67.
From that point on, GW nursed a small lead as they found themselves on the right side of a few big calls and capitalized at the line against a Cal team that found themselves in foul trouble.
In back-to-back trips down the court, Cal forwards tried driving the ball in, but were called for offensive fouls. The move fueled the crowd and handed the ball back to Jackson – who had 14 points, three assists and just two turnovers on the night – to dribble out the clock. The offense, led by Jackson, had only 10 turnovers in the game compared to Cal’s 17.
But despite their strong team play – in which four players scored in double figures – GW let their lead slip away in those final minutes and found themselves down 41-34 at the half.
Cal used a 14-5 run to end the half, using second and third chances to beat away at GW’s half-court defense. By the end of the first half, Cal had out-rebounded GW 27-19, with nine offensive boards and 28 points in the paint to GW’s 14.
By the end of the game, those disparities still existed, 50-39 in total rebounds and 44-28 points in the paint. But the Colonials’ offense – especially from downtown – helped them overcome the challenge.
GW shot 7-18 from three – Nipe with four and Jackson with three – and rode the strong defensive effort of Miller, who pressured Cal’s Brittany Boyd, a preseason national player of the candidate and main member of the Cal Final Four team from last year.
“We talked a lot on the offensive end about staying in attack mode, and it started with, ‘we needed to rebound.’ We got out-rebounded obviously tonight, but I felt like we got some really key ones and we were always able to continue to push it,” Tsipis said.
Although GW relied on the three-ball in the second half, the Colonials came out feeding the post. Freshman Caira Washington’s early field goals off Jackson’s pick and roll helped free up the shooting floor for Nipe and the rest of the team.
This marked Cal’s second loss in a row after losing to Duke in their previous game. Meanwhile, GW will go on to face another powerhouse coming off a loss in No. 8/7 Maryland at College Park on Tuesday, who lost big to No. 1 Connecticut Friday.
“I couldn’t be more proud and we look forward to knowing that we can play with a lot of people in this country and the number one thing we put up is how you can compete and how you can respond,” Tsipis said.
