DeWanna Bonner’s last shot went a little too far.
Freshman Alli Smalley’s final defensive effort was a second late.
And the Auburn women’s basketball team came up just short.
AU mounted a furious second-half effort Thursday against George Washington, but couldn’t make a play in the final seconds of a 68-66 loss. GW didn’t have that problem.
Colonials guard Lisa Steele drilled a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to give 18th-ranked GW (11-3) a win at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
No. 20 AU (12-3) suffered its second consecutive loss. But the Tigers had their chances down the stretch.
After trailing by as many as 11 early in the second half, Auburn mounted a furious comeback. A Bonner layup with 6:54 left gave the Tigers their first lead, 58-57.
The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes before Smalley hit a jumper to put Auburn ahead 66-65 with 2:12 left.
Two minutes later, AU still led, 66-65, and Bonner saw a chance to extend it. But her jumper bounced off the back iron and into the hands of GW point guard Kimberly Beck with 12 seconds left.
As GW hurried downcourt, a defensive miscommunication left Steele open in the corner as the Tigers collapsed on Colonials center Jessica Adair. Beck drove toward the center of the lane, then fired a pass to Steele on the left wing.
“I didn’t even know she had checked into the game, to be honest,” Bonner said.
“(Beck) was running down the middle, and our focus was on Adair. (Steele) just hit a big shot.”
Smalley recognized the mistake and lunged toward Steele as she released the shot. But the ball fell cleanly through the basket, giving the Colonials the lead for good.
“We didn’t match up like we should have,” Smalley said. “It all happened too fast.”
After a timeout, Auburn inbounded the ball from the opposite side of the court, hoping for a miracle.
But Trevesha Jackson’s inbounds pass ended up in the hands of GW’s Beck, who hurled the ball toward the rafters a moment before the game-ending buzzer sounded.
“I thought we really wanted to win it, worked hard to win it at the end and just fell a little short,” Fortner said. “We’re a good basketball team. We’re just kind of finding ourselves, reinventing ourselves a little bit. We’ll be fine.”
Bonner had a scary moment in the first half: She collided with Adair after driving to the basket for a layup with 9:05 left before halftime. She lay on the court, attended by team doctor Michael Goodlett and trainer Mary Stanbra, for about five minutes before being helped up and walking off the court under her own power.
After a few minutes icing her back, Bonner returned to the floor before the end of the first half. She finished with 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
“It kind of got me a little stiff,” Bonner said of the collision. “I had to come back in the game anyway; it was a big game today.”
Smalley, starting at point guard due to junior Whitney Boddie’s academics-related suspension, had 17 points and five assists. Fortner said Boddie’s status hasn’t changed, but added that a change could come within a week.

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