Jan. 20, 2004

GW Opens as A-10 West Favorite

By Thomas Kohout

The George Washington University Colonial women’s basketball team opened its conference schedule going 2–1, with wins on the road against Xavier (65–49) and Dayton (71–51), but took a rare loss at home against Saint Joseph’s (64–62).

Down by three points with .25 seconds remaining on the clock, GW had an opportunity to tie the game when Saint Joseph’s fouled senior Cathy Joens to give her three shots from the foul line. Joens sank the first two shots but missed the third shot after Saint Joseph’s third-year head coach Cindy Griffin called a time out.

The loss delayed the team’s drive towards its 500th victory. Over the course of its 29 seasons, seven separate head coaches have guided the Colonials to 499 wins. Of those victories, head coach Joe McKeown, the winningest coach in the Atlantic 10, has accounted for 326.

Heading into the 2003–04 season GW and Saint Joseph’s were picked as the teams to beat in the A-10 according to a poll conducted by the conference’s head coaches. As the defending A-10 champs returning four of five starters from last year, GW is expected to control the west division of the conference.

Saint Joseph’s, which took the 2002–03 regular season east title, advanced to the second round of the WNIT and returned its entire starting line up, is expected to repeat as the eastern division title holders.

In that same poll, Joens, the 2003 A-10 Player of the Year, and Ugo Oha, the 2003 conference tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, were named to the Preseason All-Conference first team. Anna Montañana represented GW on the second team, and Corrine Turner was selected to the All-Rookie team. Oha also was named to the All-Defensive team.

GW closed out the 2003 portion of its schedule with a 6–4 overall record, going 2–1 against nationally ranked opponents Oregon (GW 72–UO 52), Boston College (GW 76–BC 75) and Tennessee (GW 51– TN 65).

“This is a wake-up call,” said junior forward Anna Montañana, who tied a personal best 20 points in the Saint Joseph’s contest, about losing the chance to go undefeated in the A-10. “We’re supposed to be very good and win every game. We’re going to have bad games like this one, but we’ve still got to win.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

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