Jan. 31, 2009
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - La Salle Women's Basketball - down six with 58 seconds left - was able to knot the game at 70-all, before George Washington took a two-point lead with 25 ticks remaining. The Explorers had three chances to tie or win the contest, but none of their three shots found the bottom of the net and the Colonials escaped Tom Gola Arena with a 72-70 victory in Atlantic 10 action on Saturday afternoon.
George Washington (13-8, 5-1 A-10) trailed for most of the game, but from the 3:04 mark of the second half to 58 seconds left on the clock, the Colonials used a 9-3 run to take its largest lead of the game, 70-64. The run was sparked by five straight points by Antelia Parrish, who had game-highs in points (25) and rebounds (9).
Nadia Duncan, who off the bench had seven points, five boards, and two assists, scored on a three-point play to cut their deficit to a pair, but the Colonials' Tara Booker answered with a three to make it 69-64.
Yolanda Lavender then converted one of two from the foul line to make it a six-point lead before Duncan was fouled and went to the line for two.
She hit the first, missed the second, but got La Salle possession back with a tie-up On the inbounds play, Jenna Gilbert was wide open on the right block and laid the ball in, cutting the Explorer deficit to three.
Lavender was fouled again, and this time missed the front-end of the one-and-one and the Explorers worked the ball around and Jamie Walsh hit a corner three - her fourth of the game - to tie the game with 27 seconds left.
It was Lavender, again, at the foul line with the game on the line with 25 ticks and this time she made both of her free throws to put George Washington up 72-70, which set up La Salle's last possession of the game.
They quickly went to Morgan Robertson, who missed the shot, but Margaret Elderton was there for an offensive rebound and a timeout was called. With two seconds left Elderton attempted a top of the key three which almost went down, but missed and the ball went out of bounds - GW ball.
On the Colonials inbound, Booker stepped on the baseline as she received the pass, giving the Explorers one more chance at the tie or win. Gilbert took the 10-foot baseline jumper which rattled around the rim and out as the buzzer sounded - giving George Washington its 29th win in the series.
Elderton ended with 21 points, five assists, Robertson added 15 points, eight boards, five assists, while Walsh scored 12 with six boards. Chelsea Conner scored a career-high six points in a career-high 18 minutes.
La Salle (10-12, 1-6 A-10) is off for a week before hosting Fordham, next Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 PM.
Additional Notes: La Salle's 27 three-point attempts were one shy of the single game record of 28 (vs. Fordham, Feb. 24, 2006)...Jamie Walsh now has 126 made threes in her career, tied for sixth all-time at the school...La Salle has hit 150 threes this season - the third-most ever in a single-season and 16 shy of the school record...La Salle has just two wins all-time versus George Washington (Dec. 28, 1981 and Feb. 4, 2005) both at home...La Salle was 15th in that nation in Free Throw Percentage in the latest NCAA release (Friday) and increased that to 75.8% after today's game - and at present - it would be the second-best single-season mark at the school...Nadia Duncan's five rebounds are a season-high, Margaret Elderton's 21 points are a season-high, Jamie Walsh's six rebounds ties her career-high, and Morgan Robertson's five assists are a career-high...Chelsea Conner's 18 minutes doubled her most played prior (9), while she also notched her first career assist.
