By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
IT wasn’t the type of performance or the outcome that junior sensation Jonquel Jones was expecting for her No. 19/19 ranked George Washington Colonials women’s basketball team in Corvallis, Oregon.
The sixth-seeded Colonials had no answers for Gonzaga as they fell victim in a 82-69 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Gill Coliseum to bring the curtains down on their banner season as they finished with a 29-4 overall mark, setting the programme record for wins after claiming both the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament championships.
“They came out really strong in the first half and they got us into foul trouble, trying to get our clutch players out of the game,” Jones told The Tribune. “It was a good plan by them and they executed it very well. They did a lot of stuff to frustrate us. We tried to do a lot of things in the second half to try to get back into it.
“We got it (lead) back to about six, but it seemed like every time we had a moment, they just pushed further ahead, so things just didn’t work in our favour. We just needed to get a better start in the game to counteract what they did.”
Jones, a native of Grand Bahama, posted her 20th double-double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds plus two blocked shots, while sophomore Hannah Schaible and freshman Kelli Prange each tallied 13 points and seven boards, and Prange added three blocks. Sophomore Shannon Cranshaw was the fourth Colonial in double figures with 11 points on three 3-pointers, all in the second half.
“I’m really disappointed and I know the team is disappointed too. We had thoughts of going further into the tournament,” Jones said. “But looking back at the season and really reflecting on what we’ve been able to accomplish as a team, I would say it’s been really disappointing to get eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. But, at the same time, we can’t overlook the great things that we have done as a team.”
No. 11 seed Gonzaga (25-7) scored the first seven points of the game but a 6-0 GW run had the Colonials within three with 6:46 left in the half. The Bulldogs, however, used a 17-1 run to pull away (38-19) with 2:25 to go, and held a 40-25 halftime lead.
GW opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to pull within 10 and used a 14-4 run to cut it to six (63-57) with 6:23 to go. After the Bulldogs reopened an 11-point lead, the Colonials scored five straight, including a pair of layups by freshman Brianna Cummings to again make it a six-point game with 3:46 left, but Gonzaga’s Sunny Greinacher hit a three-pointer on the next possession to cut GW’s rally short.
Greinacher and Keani Albanez each finished with a game-high 19 points to lead the Bulldogs.
GW outrebounded Gonzaga 51-39, including 29-10 on the offensive glass for a 23-9 advantage in second-chance points. The national leaders in rebounding margin, the Colonials won the battle of the boards 31 times in 33 games this season.
With her 14 rebounds, Jones increased her GW single-season record total to 375.
Senior Chakecia Miller finishes her career fourth all-time at GW with 275 steals and 10th with 385 assists. She also played in her 125th career game, tied for the seventh-most in programme history.
Jones, who played 23 minutes and shot 4-of-15 from the field, was 1-for-5 from behind the three-point arch and 2-for-5 from the free throw line.
Last year, Jones led the Bahamas’ national team to fifth place at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Senior Championship in July, averaging 17.2 points and a tournament-best 14.0 rebounds in five games. She ranked second in the tournament in scoring and fifth in blocked shots (1.4 bpg).
The six-foot, four-inch forward recorded 23 points, 27 rebounds, five blocks and four assists in a 70-69 overtime victory over heavily favoured Dominican Republic.
After leading the Colonials to victory at the Thanksgiving Tournament in their first trip to her home in Grand Bahama last November, Jones went on to lead George Washington with 14.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 44 blocks (1.9 bpg) in 23 contests after becoming eligible on December 21. She is the only player in the A-10 to average a double-double on the year.
Jones went on to score 16 of her game high 21 points in the second half to lead George Washington to their fifth Atlantic 10 Championship title with a 75-62 victory over second seeded Dayton on March 8 in Richmond, Virginia. The victory was the programme record 29th of the season for the Colonials, who have won eight in a row and 27 of 28 since November 24.
The A-10 Player and Defensive Player of the Year, Jones adds Most Outstanding Player to her list of accolades this season. She scored 21 points on 8-of-16 from the floor, including a career-high 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, and she added six rebounds and two blocked shots. She was the first Colonial to be named MOP since Ugo Oha in 2003, averaging 17.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in the three tournament games.
A seven-time A-10 Player of the Week this season, matching the second-most weekly awards in conference history, Jones has posted a league-best 17 double-doubles, 11th-most in the NCAA, and she set a school record by going a perfect 10-for-10 from the floor against Fordham on February 21. In addition, her 325 rebounds are the second-highest single-season total in programme history, while her 579 rebounds in her GW career rank 14th all-time.
Jones, 21, was also selected to the A-10 All-Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team and she is awaiting the final announcement as to whether or not she be selected as one of the recipients of the All-American awards for the year.
However, she has been eliminated from winning the prestigious Naismith Trophy, which is presented to the top female and male collegiate basketball players in the United States.
The award is being named after Dr James Naismith, the inventor of basketball.
Jones, the daughter of Ettamae and Preston Jones and sister to David, Tino, Danielle, Niya, Juanita and Prestina, is majoring in criminal justice as she prepares for her senior year at George Washington in 2016 where she hopes to join Waltiea Rolle as a member of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
She is only the third Bahamian female player to earn a Division One athletic scholarship directly out of high school, following in the footsteps of Yolett McPhee-McCuin (Florida Atlantic/Rhode Island) and Rolle (North Carolina. McPhee-McCuin is now the head coach of Jacksonville University women’s basketball team and she coached Jones on the Bahamian team at the CBC in July.
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