Women’s basketball (15-15, 7-10 Atlantic 10) closed out its home slate with a 61-47 win over St. Bonaventure (15-14, 6-11 A-10) on Senior Night at the Smith Center on Wednesday.

With both teams coming into the game off losses and tied in the conference standings, the pressure was on to secure the win, which the Revolutionaries were able to do with their notably strong offensive performance. The Revs led in points for over 95% of the game.  

Pregame, the Revs celebrated their four seniors: co-captain guard and forward Emma Theodorsson, guard Filipa Calisto, forward Caia Loving and guard Natalie Sierra-Vargas. Head Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan said postgame that the veteran players’ role on this team has made her a proud. 

“I couldn’t ask for anything better than to have a class of seniors who are bought into everything that our coaching staff is trying to do. It’s always nice to win on senior day,” Adeduntan said. “So hopefully they feel really proud and happy and excited about this. I’m for sure a proud coach.” 

Sophomore guard Gabby Reynolds led the team in points, scoring 12 despite not adding anything to the scoreboard in the second half of the game. Junior forward Sara Lewis and Theodorsson also made notable contributions, scoring 11 and 10 points each, respectively. 

Adeduntan said that, while the team’s intent was to keep the ball in Reynolds’ hands, the Bonnies’ defense made it increasingly difficult throughout the second half.

“I thought [Reynolds] started the game really strong, and we want to feed her,” Adeduntan said. “We want to, we try to feed her there in the second half as well. But the way they were defending, there was a heightened focus against [Reynolds], who does a really good job on producing for us on the offensive end.”

Lewis led the team in rebounds with nine and forced five turnovers in addition to making 100% of her five free-throw points. 

The Revs started off the game with strong defensive plays, limiting the Bonnies’ top scorer, Laycee Drake, to just 4 points in the first half. Coming into the evening, Drake averaged 15.3 points — yet the Revs held her to less than half of her average, with 7 in this match. 

Adeduntan said the team’s game plan focused on ensuring there were enough defenders to limit Drake’s shots, noting that she thinks the Bonnie has one of the best midranges in the league. 

Members of the womens basketball team celebrate their win over St. Bonaventure after the game. (Kris Park | Staff Photographer)

“The game plan was one person was not going to be to limit her, and it’d be team defense,” Adeduntan said. “We needed to make sure we were crowding in the gaps against her, making it hard for her to get touches, and when she did, not lunging on her moves.” 

GW ended the first quarter with just a 6-point lead, despite the Bonnies’ Mackenzie Pettinelli buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The second quarter would see the Revs double their lead and go on a 9-0 run with just two minutes left in the first half, bringing the score to 34-21. 

But despite St. Bonaventure effort to the lead to 5 points with six minutes left in the third, GW’s offense locked in to head into the final quarter up 53-35. Adeduntan said that while the team didn’t start the third quarter strongly, the team  after a timeout regrouped to heighten the deficit and secure a large lead once again. 

“The biggest thing for me in this game was how we started the third quarter and then what we did there after, so we did turn the ball over a little bit,” Adeduntan said.“They went on a run, but we responded. Right after the timeout, I thought we made the right effort that kind of got us rolling.”

Following the Revs’ 18-point lead in the third, the fourth quarter mainly saw the Bonnies’ points trying to narrow the deficit, with the squad scoring 11 of the 19 total points in the quarter. 

GW will next head to Rhode Island to face the Rams on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., before heading to Richmond, Virginia, for the A-10 tournament next week.