QUARTERFINAL: #4 George Washington 82, #5 St. Joseph's 79 (OT)

Jonquel Jones had 30 points, 6 in overtime, and 16 rebounds, while Danni Jackson added 17 and picked up the slack after an injury to Chakecia Miller in the second half, and George Washington survived an almost buzzer-beater from Erin Shields and two Shields' tries to tie the game at the end of overtime as the Colonials defeated the defending tournament champions, 82-79.

The Colonials rode timely shooting, in both the second half and in the extra session, including key three-pointers from Megan Nipe, who also had 17, to withstand numerous attempts by the Hawks to complete the comeback. After being down by three at intermission, George Washington led much of the second half.

"We stole games at each other's places, so we knew this would be a tooth and nail game. I'm so proud of how our team responded. It was about responding: by a stop, by a rebound, at the free throw line," said George Washington head coach Jonathan Tsipis. "And overtime was played as we do; as a team we like to go at a faster pace."

The Colonials scored 19 in the extra session, as both teams found a new level of offense and energy in the extra session. A missed free throw by the Hawks with 9.8 seconds left seemed to doom their fate, but they battled for an offensive rebound and called timeout to set up a try for double overtime. Shields, whose 42-footer to win at the end of regulation bounced off the back of the rim, missed her first shot. Her second, coming just after the horn began to sound, was short.

"I couldn't ask for more from our team today. It came down to a couple of possessions," St. Joseph's head coach Cindy Griffin said.

When asked about her team's NCAA Tournament chances, she said she doesn't believe an overtime loss in a tournament quarterfinal against the caliber of opponent as George Washington should hurt you, but she knows it's also now out of the team's hands.

"With a strength of schedule at #20 and an RPI at #17, I think we have a great resume," Griffin noted.

St. Joseph's falls to 21-9 overall after finishing 10-6 in league play. They have non-conference wins over the likes of Temple and Villanova in Big 5 play. This morning, ESPN W's Bracketology had the Hawks as a #9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

George Washington, now 21-9, face top-seeded Dayton in Saturday's first semifinal at 11am. The Colonials beat Dayton, handing them just their second regular season A-10 loss in two years, last Saturday 88-79.