The George Washington women’s basketball team began the year with their highest preseason ranking ever and fully intending to prove they were unfairly denied a top-four seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
But after choking at home against Rutgers and then losing two straight in November, the Colonials now are merely trying to salvage momentum before the non-conference portion of the year is over. Tonight’s visit by revenge-minded Texas A&M, which lost to George Washington in last year’s NCAA second round, is the Colonials’ first chance to restore their preseason swagger.
“To use the golf term, it gives us a mulligan after the Rutgers game,” said Colonials head coach Joe McKeown, who also takes his team to No. 16 Auburn on Jan. 3, prior to the start of Atlantic-10 Conference play. “Those two games will give us a chance to see if we can compete legitimately at a really high level.”
Last March in Los Angeles, George Washington put together its best defensive performance of the year, holding the Aggies to 32.8 percent shooting and forcing them into 19 turnovers.
“I thought we did everything that we wanted to defensively,” said McKeown. “We’re going to have to do the same thing Thursday.”
Perhaps more important, though, will be rediscovering the confidence that has made them into perennial postseason contender.
“After the Rutgers loss, we just wanted to be better,” said center Jessica Adair (Anacostia High). “We wanted to come out, execute like we’re supposed to. … During the break [for exams] we had a lot of time to get better, work on our plays and work on what we needed to do to become a better team. I think we’ve done that.”
