Georgetown’s Women’s Basketball Team (12-13, 6-8) split two home games last week, losing to Rutgers 66-71 on Saturday, then beating Syracuse 82-59 Wednesday evening. Junior guard Mary Lisicky, who exploded for over 20 points in both games, said that the Hoyas continue to look forward to post-season play. With two games left in the regular season, hope remains for success in the Big East conference tournament.
Saturday’s match-up against Rutgers was an exciting and hard-fought contest until its final seconds. The two teams combined for nine lead changes and five foul-outs in the game, which was a key conference match-up for both squads. Lisicky led the way for the Hoyas, scoring a career-best 29 points on the “Scarlet Knights,” while senior forward Rebekkah Brunson only managed 13 points, all in the second half. Lisicky is already the Hoyas’ all-time three-point shooter, and during the game she became only the 19th player in school history to score over a thousand points.
The Hoyas were lucky Lisicky was firing early, as the junior guard provided all of the team’s offense until Varda Tamoulianis hit a layup with 11:48 left in the first, pushing Georgetown’s advantage to 11-7. The game was close throughout the first half, but Georgetown went through two lengthy scoring droughts, and after shooting 25 percent in the half went into intermission down 29-24.
Keyed by Rebecca Brunson’s first seven points of the contest, Georgetown went on a 12-2 run to start the second half. After the squads traded hoops for most of the half, the Hoyas were up by six with nine minutes to go. It was then Rutgers’ turn to go on a tear, reeling off nine unanswered points in the next 1:30 to retake control of the game. After the 7:26 mark, Georgetown would not regain the lead.
The Hoyas would, however, fight until the game’s end and even came as close as 68-66 with 19 seconds remaining. Despite the late-game heroics of Lisicky, et al., it was Rutgers’ ability to hit from the free-throw line that decided the game. The Knights hit 70 percent of their foul shots (23-33) in the second, while Georgetown connected on an unimpressive 57 percent of their attempts (16-28).
Coach Pat Knapp addressed the disappointing loss, and his team’s struggles from the foul line, after the game.
“We should have won the game, I’m not going to tell you anything else,” Knapp said. “We expected to win the game, we were in a position to win the game … We know and the kids know what they have to work at. We have four players that shoot 60 percent or less [from the foul line], and we only play seven people. And those people shoot extra free-throws every week, beyond what we do in practice. You don’t want to nail kids for doing that, because they’re trying hard to correct it, they really are.”
Wednesday night’s game was an entirely different affair, as Brunson steamrolled the Orangewomen, scoring 35 points and collecting 25 rebounds, both of which are career highs. Brunson and Lisicky, who contributed 22 points, nearly outscored Syracuse (6-18, 3-11) on their own.
After the two clubs were tied at a sluggish 6-6 with 13:11 left, Georgetown went on a 12-0 run, eventually increasing their lead to 28-11 with 7:23 left in the half. They eventually entered halftime up by 13. Playing in her final home game at McDonough, Brunson scored 23 points on 9-15 shooting from the floor and was a perfect 5-5 from the line.
Early in the second the Hoyas took a 20 point lead, after which they were never threatened in the contest. The Hoyas’ early second half run was punctuated by Lisicky’s three treys. Lisicky went 3-5 from beyond the arc during the game.
Seniors Sarah Jenkins and Narumol Berggren saw significant action in their last home game-Berggren started for the first time this year. After the game she spoke of her desire to play professional basketball in Europe or work as a coach, and when asked about her goals for the post-season, Berggren was certain. “NCAA bid,” Berggren said. “The big dream is Final Four. Anything’s possible if you work hard and have heart.”
The Hoyas regular season concludes with games Saturday in Providence and Tuesday at Boston College before the Big East Championships, which take place over spring break, from March 6-9 in Hartford, Connecticut.
