By Ashleigh Tobin (@aktobin2)
Despite a strong offensive push in the fourth quarter, the Revolutionaries (8-12, 1-7 A10) could not pull off a late victory against Fordham, falling 60-55 to the Rams (7-13, A10 2-7) on the road.
GW found themselves down by double digits at multiple points during the game, but were able to tie it up at 55 with just over a minute remaining thanks to senior guard Asjah Innis, who went to the rim and converted while being fouled. Innis went on to make the free throw to complete the three point play, contributing to the 17-7 run that GW went on with around 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, that is where the Revolutionaries’ scoring would stop as they turned the ball over three times in crucial possessions at the end of the game, allowing Fordham to pull ahead and seal the victory.
As has been the case all season, the GW defense was extremely strong, forcing Fordham to shoot just 33.8% from the field and 26.3% from behind the arc, both below their season averages.
However, the key difference in this contest proved to be the Rams’ ability to come down with offensive boards and turn it into second chance opportunities for points. Fordham outrebounded GW 21-10 on the offensive side of the ball, which contributed to the Rams ability to put up 20 more shots than the Revolutionaries, and gave them 19 second chance points.
Graduate guard Emy Hayford led the way for Fordham with 18 points, followed by senior guard Taylor Donaldson with 16 points. The two stars made up for more than half of the Rams’ total points as GW could not slow them down.
Again, GW struggled offensively and gave up 18 turnovers, many of which came from poor passes. It looked like players were not on the same page with one another for a majority of the game, with lots of miscommunication on the offensive side of the ball. Their shooting improved throughout the game, and they even out-shot Fordham from the field (40% to 33.8%), but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit they created for themselves earlier in the game.
Luckily for GW, sophomore guard Nya Robertson put the offense on her back again, leading the way for the Revs with 19 points and keeping the game within reach. No other GW player scored double digit points.
On the positive side, Nya Lok hit a three pointer early in the game to eclipse the 1,000 point mark in her career. Additionally, the offense did find their footing in the fourth quarter, where they scored 19 points, 11 of which came from Robertson. Junior forward Maxine Engel was another bright spot in the game, where she went 3-for-4 from three. One of those threes made it just a one possession contest with 3:10 left in the game.
The Revolutionaries will need to keep that offensive momentum going in the games to come if they want to be a competitive team in the Atlantic 10 for the rest of conference play.
GW will be back at home Wednesday to face off against Rhode Island, a team sitting in the top half of the conference, at 6pm, hoping to snap their four game losing streak. That game can be streamed on ESPN+ or listened to on WRGW.
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