Kye Allums has little impact on GW's season-opening loss

Green Bay	GW
75	51

MINNEAPOLIS - History was made on Saturday afternoon at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena, although hardly anyone took notice.

Kye Allums became the first openly transgender player to compete in an NCAA women's basketball game when he took the court for George Washington in its season opener against Wisconsin-Green Bay in the Best Buy Classic. The junior guard from nearby Hugo, Minn., started the game but had little impact in the Colonials' 75-51 loss.

Allums revealed his desire to be identified as a man earlier this month, attracting international attention to GW. He has not undergone surgery or hormone treatments and biologically remains a woman.

In his 15 minutes on the court, Allums did not attempt a shot. His one assist came on Brooke Wilson's layup with 12 minutes 24 seconds remaining in the game. He picked up his third foul 11 seconds later and returned to the bench. Allums was not made available to reporters after the game.

Aside from the ESPN camera crew that tried to follow Allums and his family, which was at the game, the approximately 200 fans who braved the blizzardlike conditions seemed to have little sense that this contest was anything but another early-season game between two teams with not much in common. Though the media contingent was larger than most women's basketball games attract at this time of year, the crowd did not outwardly acknowledge Allums.

GW Coach Mike Bozeman was asked about Allums's performance after the game.

"I thought she played well," Bozeman said. "Tried to get her to calm down a little bit. But that's natural. She hadn't been able to play here in Minnesota. . . . I'm sure her adrenaline was pumping, maybe a little bit overdrive."

The Wisconsin-Green Bay players acknowledged that they were aware that GW had a transgender player on its team, but said their focus was on playing basketball. And for most of the game the Phoenix played much better than the Colonials.

Wisconsin-Green Bay brings back five starters from last season's team, which became the first Horizon League team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament, and the Phoenix clearly was a more cohesive team.

GW, which has been dealing with the aftermath of Allums's revelation, has tried to keep its focus on basketball and its attempts to move on from last season's 6-22 record - the Colonials' first losing record since 1988-89, which ended a streak of 10 consecutive postseason appearances. With several players coming back from injury, GW appeared to need more time to acclimate those players back into the lineup.

Sophomore Megan Nipe, a teammate of Allums at nearby Centennial High, was the lone GW player to locate her shooting touch. Perhaps encouraged by the more than 20 family members and friends she had in attendance, Nipe was the only player for the Colonials to make more than one field goal in the first half. She finished with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

"I was very excited to be back home," Nipe said. "I don't know if it affected my shot. I know it affected my energy, just because if something went wrong they still were cheering for me and I could hear them."

Point guard Danni Jackson, who missed all but four games last season because of a broken leg, seemed to be trying to make up for lost time. Jackson took 14 shots but made only three, finishing with a team-high 13 points.

"I just went out there and tried to be as confident as possible," she said. "I just really tried to play my game. Very nervous at the beginning, but I got through it."

Though the result was not what GW was hoping for, Bozeman was not discouraged.

"We're going to be a good basketball team and that's not too far in the future when that's going to materialize," Bozeman said. "I just think we need to clean up a few things."