The Smith Center's familiar rims did not help George Washington in its quest to win its fifth Atlantic 10 Conference tournament title last night. The Colonials struggled with their shooting against Temple and lost, 70-62, in the championship game before 2,319.
The Owls (27-3), who have Division I's longest winning streak at 24 games, won their second championship in three years and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They are the first Atlantic 10 team to finish the regular season undefeated and win the tournament title. It was also Temple's first win at Smith Center since Feb. 15, 1990, but that didn't stop its fans from chanting, "This is our house."
Anna Montaqana (26 points), left, sits dejectedly with Kim Beck after the loss. GW (22-8) still expects an NCAA tournament bid.
(Michael Robinson-chavez -- The Washington Post)
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Despite the loss, GW (22-8) should be among the teams selected to the NCAA tournament field when it is announced on Sunday.
"I think we've taken care of our own business," GW Coach Joe McKeown said. "The only thing we didn't do obviously was finish it off tonight. . . . I feel very good that we're going to get in. I'm just concerned about where they're going to put us."
The Colonials, who were hosting the final for the second time in three years, never found an offensive rhythm against Temple. Outside of Anna Montañana and Jessica Simmonds, it took an enormous effort for them to score.
"We have a really, really young team," Montañana said. "This was a big final at home. I think in the beginning people are really tight."
Montañana, playing in her final game at Smith Center, was spectacular. She scored 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting and was selected to the all-tournament team. Simmonds also was an all-tournament selection, finishing with 22 points.
But they were the only two players who managed to generate offense for GW, which shot 39.3 percent. Take away Kenan Cole's nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, and the rest of the team went 1 of 13 from the field.
"It's no secret," McKeown said. "This team, we have to really grind to score. We're by committee there trying to find some offense."
It didn't help that point guard Kim Beck, the Atlantic 10 rookie of the year, picked up her second foul 5 1/2 minutes into the game. Beck played 36 minutes and didn't foul out until 1 minute 9 seconds remained. But the times she was off the court, GW was out of sync.
"They're used to having her in the game, playing a lot of minutes," Temple Coach Dawn Staley said. "If you take her away, it throws everybody off just a little bit, just enough for us to get a lead that when she did come back in, she got them back on track. There was a big enough lead for them not to come all the way back and get the momentum."
GW's defense came on strong late in the game, helping the Colonials rally from a 16-point deficit midway through the second half. Montañana pulled them to 56-52 with 2:43 remaining when she made the second of two free throws.
With the lead slipping away, Candice Dupree, who was selected the tournament's most outstanding player for the second straight year, made a pull-up jumper 24 seconds later that got Temple out of its offensive funk. Dupree scored 21 points to lead the Owls.
"Dupree hit a lot of big shots," Simmonds said. "We always had a hand up. She played a great game today."
Temple pulled away in the final 1:24 by making 12 of 14 free throws, earning only its third victory over GW in the last nine meetings.
The Colonials had won nine in a row before last night. In the latest WBCA/Summerville Rating Percentage Index, a measurement of a team's strength that the NCAA selection committee uses to determine the tournament field, GW is 39.
