STANFORD-All the No. 10 Cal women's basketball team needed to do was survive the last four minutes of its second round game against No. 6-seed George Washington and it would venture into the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.

But it couldn't.

The third-seeded Bears squandered a late seven-point lead in the final four minutes at Maples Pavilion and were sent home after a 55-53 loss to the Colonials.

George Washington-led by Antelia Parrish's 15 points-now heads to Greensboro, N.C., and for the Sweet 16.

"This one game does not define our season," Cal coach Joanne Boyle said. "I'm just disappointed for them, because they deserved the opportunity to move forward and that didn't happen tonight."

The final 12 seconds proved to be the most critical.

After George Washington guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence's layup tied the game at 53-53 with 12.1 seconds left, Bears guard Natasha Vital tried to walk the ball up and call timeout at halfcourt.

However, Vital was trapped at she crossed halfcourt and was called for a travel, giving the final possession to the Colonials with 5.7 seconds left.

That was all George Washington (27-6) would need as Lawrence-who finished with 13 points-collected a Kimberly Beck air ball and lofted into the hoop over the outstretched arms of Cal forward Ashley Walker as time expired.

After the game, Vital and Boyle contested that Vital had not traveled.

"I thought I called timeout," Vital said.

Added Boyle: "You can look at the monitor. We checked it a few times. She didn't travel."

The Bears (27-7) didn't help themselves after being up seven points late in the game.

Cal made no field goals in the last 4:09 and didn't score a single point in the last 3:20 of the game.

The only scoring that the Bears got came from two Walker free throws to push give her team a six-point lead.

In that same span, the Colonials made a 9-2 run to secure the victory.

"It's hard to even remember the last three minutes to be honest," Boyle said. "They picked up their defense there at the end, and obviously they pressed a little bit more. We got a little tentative there at the end."

Cal did not get its usual scoring output from Devanei Hampton. The junior center finished the game with four points and finished 2-of-8 from the field.

The George Washington zone defense frustrated Hampton as Jessica and Jazmine Adair bodied up against her.

"They double and triple teamed me, but I knew just to kick it back to my guards, and they hit their shots," Hampton said. "There was nothing unexpected. I would have been surprised if they didn't double or triple team me."

Both Hampton and Walker were in foul trouble for most of the second half. Walker picked up her third foul with 17:50 left to play, Hampton picking hers a minute earlier.

"They were very smart down the stretch," Boyle said. "And we needed them in the end."

The Bears opened up the game going 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, opening up the game and alleviating some pressure for their post players.

But after that, Cal went 4-for-16 from three and shot 25.9 percent from the field in the second half.

"We tried to make a conscience effort to contest the open threes," Colonials coach Joe McKeown said. "In the first half, part of our strategy was to double them and make them shoot, and they made six threes. So the second half, we tightened up on the perimeter."

Walker notched a game-high 19 points for the Bears as her agile play and base-line moves enabled her to get to the basket against the Colonials' defense. Junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson chipped in 14, but it was Walker who led the way in the losing effort, just one rebound shy of another double-double.

"I feel like I just did what I normally do," Walker said. "It just sucks that my team can't advance. I feel like we played really hard together. It just sucks that the ball didn't bounce our way."

Tags: NCAA TOURNAMENT, SWEET 16