By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA _ George Washington’s Antelia Parrish was elsewhere a year ago in junior college when St. Joseph’s shocked the Colonials in the semifinals of the Atlantic Ten tournament in Cincinnati.
On Sunday afternoon, however, the former J.C. All-American put away the Hawks with a pair of three-pointers in the final two minutes to give No. 17 GW a 61-53 victory at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
The victory kept the Colonials (22-5, 10-2) in a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Ten standings with Temple and Xavier going into the final week of conference play.
Temple (17-11), the only city team wil a chance at the NCAA tournament, will go to St. Louis, Wednesday, and host Massachusetts, Saturday.
Xavier (20-7) will be looking for revenge Wednesday when the Musketeers host Dayton, which recently beat them. They will will then travel to St. Bonaventure, Saturday.
The Colonials, the only A-10 team seemingly assured an NCAA bid without needing the automatic bid through the conference tournament, will travel to Richmond, Wednesday, and then host winless Fordham, Saturday.
If the Rams lose to Charlotte, Wednesday, the Colonials can end Fordham's misery at 0-29, which would be a record.
In Sunday's game, George Washington’s Jessica Adair scored 20 points, while freshman Sarah Acker had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks (14-13, 6-6). Timisha Gomez and Amy Wold each added 10 points.
The game was closely fought most of the way. The Hawks trailed, 52-50, with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game when Gomez missed a three-point attempt.
Whitney Allen grabbed the loose rebound and Parrish connected with her first trey. Wold countered with a similar shot, but Parrish nailed another three-pointer for a 58-53 lead with 1:17 left.
“We missed a defensive assignment,” St. Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin said of Parrish’s heroics. “Some of us thought we were in man-to-man coverage and some of us thought we were in a zone.
"That’s a disappointing thing in Game 27, but it’s correctable.” Griffin explained.
Just under the 18-minute mark of the second half with St. Joseph’s holding a one-point lead, Colonials coach Joe McKeown removed all his starters for the next four minutes.
“We were flat and I thought (the substitutes) came in and gave us great energy, that was really important for us,” said Joe McKeown, a Father Judge grad.
Lin Dunn, the new coach of the WNBA Indiana Fever, made a visit here to look at GW senior guard Kimberly Beck, who struggled on a 2--for-8 effort from the field, scoring nine points and dealing five assists.
"She's such a leader, she still gaves us big plays when we needed them," McKeown said.
A large contingent of Colonials fans made the trip from Washington.
"It felt like a home game," Beck said.
They'll be back in a few weeks when the Hawks host the Atlantic Ten tournament.
McKeown went 2-1 in his native city, beating Villanova in a nonconference tilt in December and St. Joseph's, while losing at Temple.
Meanwhile, in a surprise pre-game ceremony, St. Joseph’s retired the number of assistant coach Sue Moran, one of the all-time players in the program’s history, Her No. 10 was unveiled alongside the only other Hawk women's star of the past who has been given the honor _ Dale Hodges.
-- Mel
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