Saturday, January 5, 2013

GW Women's Hoops Wraps Up Non-Conference Play at North Carolina A&T on Sunday

WHO: GW Women's Basketball (6-7)
WHAT: Game #14 at North Carolina A&T (8-5)
WHERE: Corbett Sports Center (5,700), Greensboro, N.C.
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 6 at 6:00 p.m.
STATS: Via NCATAggies.com
TWITTER: @GW_WBB
NOTES: GW Notes Get Acrobat Reader

WASHINGTON,  D. C.  -  The George Washington women's basketball team wraps up non-conference play on Sunday evening with its first-ever matchup with North Carolina A&T. Tipoff from the Aggies' Corbett Sports Center is set for 6 p.m.

GW (6-7) dropped its second straight game last Sunday, falling at Saint Mary's, 79-49.

Seniors Danni Jackson and Shi-Heria Shipp each scored 13 points in the loss. A win over the Aggies this weekend would give the Colonials a 7-7 record against non-conference opponents for the second year in a row, their most out-of-league victories since also winning seven in 2008-09.

Sunday's game is the third of GW's four-game road swing, which began out west with games against No. 8 California (Dec. 28) and Saint Mary's (Dec. 30) and also includes a trip to Massachusetts (Jan. 12) to open Atlantic 10 play. By the time the Colonials return to the Smith Center to host Saint Joseph's on Jan. 17, it will have been 26 days since their last game at home on Dec. 22.

Senior Megan Nipe (9.8 ppg) paces a very balanced Colonials' offense in which four players are averaging better than eight points per game. Graduate student Tara Booker is GW's top rebounder with 5.9 rpg, while Jackson is averaging 5.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game, ranking third and second, respectively, in the A-10.

GW's trip to North Carolina represents a homecoming for Shipp and head coach Jonathan Tsipis. Shipp is a native of Salisbury, N.C., which is approximately 50 miles southwest of Greensboro, while Tsipis went to high school in Durham (50 miles east of Greensboro) and graduated from the University of North Carolina.

North Carolina A&T (8-5) is coming off a 56-47 win over UNC-Wilmington on Thursday.

JaQuayla Berry led the Aggies with 15 points and seven rebounds. The Aggies have won two in a row and eight of their last 11 games. Two of their three losses in that span came against GW's Atlantic 10 rivals, Richmond and Charlotte. A&T and GW share two common non-conference opponents, William & Mary and Virginia Tech.

Both teams defeated the Tribe and lost to the Hokies. Berry paces the Aggies with 12.5 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per contest this season.

Amber Calvin is the top three-point threat in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, shooting at a 48.9 percent clip from long distance. A&T leads the MEAC in three-point percentage (.331) and ranks second in field goal percentage (.395).

Tarrell Robinson is in his first year as head coach at North Carolina A&T. He inherits a team that posted a 15-16 overall record in 2011-12 and returns all five starters.

The Aggies were picked to finish fifth out of 13 teams in the MEAC preseason poll. Berry was tabbed to the preseason all-conference first team, while Calvin and Tiffanie Adair were each named to the second team.

While Sunday's game marks the first-ever meeting between the Colonials and Hokies, GW has already played a pair of MEAC opponents this season, defeating Morgan State, 75-40, on Nov. 28, and Howard, 61-60, on Dec. 15.


COURTESY THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS


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