WASHINGTON – Four players reached double figures in scoring, and graduate student Brooke Wilson posted a double-double, as the George Washington women’s basketball team used a balanced offensive attack to defeat NCAA Division II Wingate, 69-39, in an exhibition contest at the Charles E. Smith Center on Sunday. The game marked the unofficial debut of GW’s first-year head coach Jonathan Tsipis.
Grad student Tara Booker scored a game-high 12 points, Wilson recorded 10 points and a game-best 10 rebounds and senior Danni Jackson tallied 10 points and nine assists to pace the Colonials. Senior Shi-Heria Shipp was the fourth Colonials’ player in double figures with 10 points, along with five rebounds and three steals.
Sophomore Chakecia Miller stuffed the stat sheet with six points, eight assists and six steals, and freshmanAnjaleace White posted eight points and five rebounds in her first collegiate action. Grad student Sara Mostafa, playing in her first game since suffering a broken hand last December, added seven points and seven boards.
GW applied heavy defensive pressure in the first half, forcing 21 Wingate turnovers and allowing just 26.3 percent shooting (5-for-19) in the first 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs scored the first three points of the game and held the Colonials scoreless for more than three minutes, but senior Danni Jackson scored GW’s first basket at the 16:44 mark, and a quick steal by senior Megan Nipe and lay-up by Wilson gave the Colonials a lead which they would never relinquish.
Leading by just one, 7-6, over the Bulldogs after a Kelli Bonner three-pointer, the Colonials scored 15 straight points over a seven-minute span to take control of the game at 22-6 with 7:02 remaining in the first half. GW went up by 20, 32-12, with 3:04 to go, but Wingate scored the final five points of the half to cut its deficit to 32-17 at the break.
A three-pointer by Booker at the 17:12 mark sparked a 19-3 GW run that saw the Colonials take a game-high 33-point lead, 57-24, with 10:43 left, and the Bulldogs never got closer than 28 the rest of the way. GW’s final nine points of the game were scored by freshmen, including six by White and three by Aaliyah Brown, whose layup with 39 seconds to go produced the 69-39 final margin.
The Colonials shot 37.7 percent from the floor in the game, and 21 of their 29 field goals were assisted. Wingate’s Janitsha Williams scored 11 points to lead the Bulldogs, who shot just 26.9 percent from the field.
GW scored 28 points off 33 Wingate turnovers and held a 48-44 rebounding advantage, turning 24 offensive boards into 20 second-chance points.
The Colonials officially open the 2012-13 campaign this Friday when they host UT Arlington at 7:00 p.m. in the Charles E. Smith Center.
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