With four and a half minutes to play, the GW women’s basketball game against Fordham looked as though it might follow the pattern that many of the team’s games have fallen into this year. With the Colonials up six, sophomore guard Tiana Myers had her shot blocked by Fordham’s Kristina Bell, who quickly took the ball to the other end, got fouled, and made both free throws to bring the Rams to within four.
But where they have failed at other times this season, GW succeeded Saturday afternoon, holding off the Rams down the stretch to win 57-46.
“I think we can play as [well] as we focus,” head coach Mike Bozeman said of his team’s performance late in the game. “Our focus as a team rose a little at that time, and we started getting the job done in a more efficient manner.”
GW (6-18, 3-8 A-10) held Fordham to 3-18 shooting from the three-point range, but the Colonials’ main problem on defense was stopping senior forward Randall Hurst down in the post. Hurst finished the game with 18 points and seven rebounds.
“For the most part, she was using her body position very well,” Bozeman said. “We have to get better at defending the post… We’re working on fronting the post every day and we didn’t do a very good job of that tonight.”
Myers once again led the team in scoring with 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half after the sophomore spent much of the first half on the bench with foul trouble.
“In the second half, I became more aggressive,” Myers said. “I knew what was at stake, and that we needed the win. So I executed what the coaches asked me to.”
Also performing well for the Colonials was sophomore center Sara Mostafa, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with her three blocked shots. Fellow sophomore Kay-Kay Allums had 12 points and seven rebounds.
GW struggled to hang onto the ball in the first half with 12 turnovers before halftime, an issue that Bozeman said in the post-game press conference he addressed “pretty loudly” with his team, drawing a laugh from Myers.
Bozeman’s admonishments apparently worked on the Colonials, who turned the ball over just three times in the second half.
“We pushed the limit on rebounds and cutting down turnovers and felt that doing that would get us the victory,” Bozeman said.
With just three games remaining for his young team, Saturday’s win helps to further solidify GW’s chances of playing in March’s Atlantic 10 tournament, where Bozeman thinks his team can be dangerous.
“I’m probably one of the craziest coaches in the country,” Bozeman said. “I’m still optimistic of our chances if we get to the tournament. I think we have yet to play our best basketball, and if it happens in the tournament, we’re going to upset some people.”
The Colonials will host Saint Louis Tuesday at 7 p.m.
