Coming into Saturday’s game against visiting Seton Hall (6-16, 3-8 BE), the Georgetown women’s basketball team (10-12, 3-8 BE) faced a must-win situation. The top 12 teams in the Big East at the end of the season will earn themselves spots in the conference tournament. Before the game the Pirates were knocking on the door in 13th place, while the Hoyas sat back in 15th place. The Hoyas got a step closer to the tourney with a 64-52 win.
Georgetown was on a six-game losing skid, and Seton Hall had beat the Hoyas in seven of their last eight meetings. Georgetown needed the game as a springboard if they wanted to make a run for the tournament.
When asked how the win felt, Georgetown Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy let out a relief-filled laugh and simply asked, “What do you think?”
Seton Hall’s largest lead of the game came with the afternoon’s first basket, a three-pointer by junior forward Heta Korpivaara at the 19:41 mark. Korpivaara ended the game with 12 points and five rebounds. Freshman guard Shantel Brown added a game-high 19 points.
The two teams traded leads five times over the next few minutes. But three minutes into the game, freshman center Katrina Wheeler put Georgetown up 8-7, and the Hoyas were off to the races.
By halftime, Georgetown had opened up a 36-23 lead, which the Hoyas maintained through the second half. Their largest lead of 17 came with two minutes left. Georgetown outshot Seton Hall, shooting 42 percent from the field compared to the Pirates’ 29 percent. The Hoyas also out rebounded the Pirates 44-37.
The Hoyas showcased a balanced attack on the offensive side of the ball. Four of the team’s starters scored in double figures. Freshman guard Nikki Bozeman, who started at point for the third game in a row, added nine points of her own.
“I like it because it gives me the chance to put Kristin Heidloff at the two guard, which gives her as a shooter that opportunity,” Williams-Flournoy said of starting Bozeman at the point position.
Giving Heidloff, a sophomore, these shooting opportunities has paid off. Saturday she led the team with 17 points.
It was her fourth game in a row scoring in double digits.
On the defensive end, Wheeler carried the Hoyas. Every shot that the Pirates missed seemed to fall into her hands. Of her 17 rebounds, 13 came off the defensive glass. She also sent away the Pirates’ shot attempts with four blocks. “I think I owed it to myself and to my team to go the extra mile, get that extra rebound,” Wheeler said of her effort.
Wheeler’s defensive play also went a long way in stopping Seton Hall’s leading scorer, junior forward Monique Blake. Wheeler and the rest of the Hoyas held Blake to two points. Blake had been averaging over 12 points a game coming into Saturday’s contest.
“She had a very difficult day,” Seton Hall Head Coach Phyllis Mangina said of Blake. “Every night people are focusing on her and concentrating on her, so we got to do a better of opening things up and making some shots.”
Things opened up for Brown and Korpivaara, but their efforts were not enough to make up for the virtual absence of Blake.
Georgetown ran away with this important game, but both teams are still very much in the hunt for a spot in the conference tournament. “Every game we play, every game they play is a step closer hopefully to making the tournament,” Mangina said. “You got to keep playing because you got six more games and you’re trying to get a spot in the Big East tournament. Someone’s going to get there with five or six wins, and you got to try to get that.”
NEXT GAME vs Cuse on Wed
