March 9, 2008

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PHILADELPHIA - Freshman center Ta'Shia Phillips scored a game-high 22 points and freshman point guard Special Jennings hit the shot of the game to lead the No. 3 seeded Xavier University women's basketball team to a 63-59 victory over No. 2 George Washington in Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinal action on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Fieldhouse in Philadelphia.  With the win, XU improves to 23-8 on the year while the No. 13 nationally-ranked Colonials slip to 25-6. 

With the win, XU advances to its second-straight A-10 Championship Final and will square-off against No. 1 seeded Temple on Monday evening.  Game time is set for 5 p.m. on Hawk Hill and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.  XU's appearance in the Final is its fifth since the 1998-99 season and XU is 4-1 in those games. 

Xavier defeated Temple in last year's semifinal en route to the 2007 title.  Xavier has now defeated three ranked teams this year as the team was also victorious over No. 7 Georgia and No. 24 North Carolina State this season.

Xavier led 57-56 with under 30-seconds to go and the shot clock winding down.  Jennings had the ball on the right wing and drove the lane and put up a running one-hander that found its way into the bottom of the net to give Xavier a 59-56 lead.  XU got a big stop on the ensuing possession and made enough of its free throws down the stretch to advance. 

Ta'Shia Phillips' 22 came on 7-of-12 shooting and she was also a clutch 8-of-11 from the charity stripe.  Phillips pulled down nine rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass.  Sophomore forward Amber Harris scored 15 points and snared eight rebounds in 35 minutes of action.  Two of those 15 came on a put back with under two minutes to go to break a 52-all tie. 

Junior forward Tudy Reed added seven points, five rebounds and three assists.  Reed's old-fashioned 3-point play at the 1:10 mark gave XU a 57-54 lead at the 1:10 mark. 

GW extended its 30-24 halftime lead to eight points, 36-28, with 15:50 to go.  The Musketeers responded with a spirited 18-4 run over the next 6:20 and built their lead to six points, 46-40, after Taylor buried another 3-pointer at the 9:30 mark. 

The run was sparked by a Special Jennings 3-pointer and sustained with seven points by Ta'Shia Phillips. 

XU out-rebounded GW's rugged frontline 36-to-31 and held a convincing 21-to-8 advantage in second chance points.  The Musketeers also out-scored the Colonials 30-to-16 in the paint.  The Musketeers turned the ball over 12 times but committed only one turnover in the second half. 

The first half was a back-and-forth battle, featuring five ties and four lead changes in the first 12:20.  Harris made a pair of free throws to knot the score up at 20 with 7:40 to go but GW finished strong and out-scored XU 10-4 over the remainder to take a 30-24 lead at the break. 

Ta'Shia Phillips led the way for Xavier in the first half with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.