Score: George Washington 72, VCU 58
Location: Richmond, Va. (Richmond Coliseum)
Records: VCU 23-9, George Washington 25-6

The Short Story: VCU women's basketball nearly erased a 17-point second half deficit to upset #1 seeded George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Conference Semi-Finals, but were unable to pull ahead late, falling 72-58. The Rams managed to cut the Colonial lead to six-points with two minutes remaining, but GW would not relent further.

• Junior Ashley Pegram paced the Rams offense for the second-straight game. The junior scored a team-high 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
• Senior Adaeze Alaeze had an 11-point performance, dishing out four assists in for the Black & Gold. In yesterday's win over St. Bonaventure, the forward was able to surpass the 1,000- point mark in her career.
• Chadarryl Clay joined those two in double-figures. The guard scored 10 points, including notching a pair of clutch three-pointers late in the game.
• Senior Jessica Ogunnorin just missed a double-double with nine points an eight rebounds. Her eight rebounds tied her with Isis Thorpe for the team lead. Ogunnorin was the team's leading rebounder during the regular season.

• After two back-and-forth quarters, the Rams headed into the break down six, despite shooting 52.2 (12-of-23) percent in the half. 
• All season, VCU was able to set the tone in the third quarter, but stumbled on Saturday, getting outscored 16-7.
• Down 53-38 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the Rams began to cut into the Colonial lead.
• After Ogunnorin got one back for the Rams at the foul line, Alaeze scored three quick baskets in a row. After a GW layup, the senior drained a three-pointer making it a 10-point 60-50 game with six minutes remaining.
• Minutes later, An Ogunnorin layup brought the Colonial lead to six points with just over two minutes left in regulation.
• Despite cutting into the GW cushion, VCU was unable to dig out of the hole and exited the tournament one game shy of the A-10 Conference Championship game.

• VCU had done a good job of winning the battle of the boards all season, but came up short against GW, being outrebounded 54-38.
• The Rams defense continued to challenge their opponent as they have done all season. VCU forced 20 Colonial turnovers, scoring 11 of their points off of GW errors.
• VCU's depth was on display for the second-straight game as the bench chipped in 28 points, almost doubling the 16 points the George Washington reserves put up.
• The Colonials were limited from beyond the arch as the Rams held them to 9.1 (1-of-11) percent shooting from downtown.
• This was the first appearance in a conference tournament semi-final for the since the 2011 season when VCU was a member of the CAA.

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Rams will wait patiently for nine days when the NIT selection show will take place in the evening on Monday, March 14.