VCU edges out George Washington with late game heroics 56-53
Sophomore guard Sarah Te-Biasu and the rest of the Rams celebrate after defeating George Washington 56-53 on Feb. 6. Photo by Jay Stonefield.
Arrick Wilson, Sports Editor
The VCU women’s basketball program defeated the George Washington Colonials 56–53 during a Sunday afternoon game, at the Stuart C. Siegel Center. VCU head coach Beth O’Boyle praised the team for battling through “adversity” and getting their third consecutive win.
“A really tough game today. We knew, especially having played our third game in five days that it was going to be a battle,” O’Boyle said. “Lots of credit to GW [George Washington] for really playing a tough game and just proud of the way that we handle the adversity during the game.”
The first quarter was a closely contested game, with both teams only scoring eight points. The Rams only made four of their 15 shots, shooting 26% from the field. In the second quarter, the Rams came out firing, scoring 23 points in the quarter, leading the Colonials 30–23 at halftime. O’Boyle said perseverance brought the Rams out on top during that half.
“Yeah, I think the first quarter – they were good shots, they just weren’t falling and that you know, it’s a little bit of that mental toughness,” O’Boyle said. “I think that just to keep us going and getting that energy level going. And then all of a sudden you start to see those shots fall but we’re right there for our second-chance points.”
Sophomore guard Sarah Te-Biasu led the Rams with 12 points and three rebounds. Senior forward Keowa Walters also had 10 points and five rebounds. Additionally, graduate guard Taya Robinson and redshirt senior Janika Griffith-Wallace both scored nine points.
Junior guard Sheslanie Laureano led the Colonials with 15 points and eight rebounds. Graduate guard Kyara Frames scored 12 points and had three rebounds. She hit three three-pointers from beyond the arc.
The Colonials dominated the third quarter, holding the black and gold to one field goal out of 11 attempts. The Colonials outrebounded the Rams 42-35, coming back full force in the third quarter. Walters was second on the team with rebounds and said how hard it was to get some rebounds.
“They had a lot of people flying in early on but we really just had to box out. Push them back and just rebound, so as long as we all work together all boxed out the rebounds were pretty easy,” Walters said.
In the fourth quarter, the black and gold ran away with the game due to free throw heroics by Te-Biasu. Te-Biasu made five out of the six shots from the free throw line, leading the team to a victory. Te-Biasu said she enjoyed closing out the game late with free throws, paying off from practice.
“Feels good. You know, we’ve been practicing a lot on free throws in practice and it paid off today,” Te-Biasu said.
Looking forward, the black and gold will have to face the Dayton Flyers in their next game. The Rams and the Flyers have had some good conference tournament matches in the past years. This season the Flyers are undefeated in conference play, with a record of nine wins. O’Boyle is looking forward to the matchup.
“Yeah, VCU, Dayton. It’s always an exciting game – we’re there and it’s a battle,” O’Boyle said. “So I expect it to be an intense battle for 40 minutes.”
The Rams will play an away game against the Dayton Flyers on Feb. 13 at 4 p.m., at the University of Dayton Arena at Dayton University. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
