Last night the Georgetown and DePaul women’s basketball teams put on a thriller in McDonough Arena. Both teams came into the game on two-game winning streaks. The Hoyas (10-13, 3-9 BE) played up to their opponent’s level, but the No. 16 Blue Demons (21-5, 8-5 BE) prevailed 64-58.
The Hoyas came out strong, scoring three straight baskets to take an early 6-0 lead. DePaul quickly caught up with the Hoyas with the dominant inside play of senior forward Khara Smith. In the first half alone, she tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Blue Demons found themselves in some trouble when sophomore guard Allie Quigley committed two fouls just seven minutes into the game. Quigley is tied as the Big East’s fourth leading scorer, averaging 17.5 points in conference play. Even without her, however, DePaul was able to open up a 26-15 lead at the 5:34 mark.
Junior guard Kate Carlin kept the Hoyas in the game with her three-point shooting. She hit two of three in the first half, and Georgetown was able to go into halftime down only six, 31-25.
“I felt we were in pretty good shape, being only down six,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said.
Georgetown was in even better shape after the team started the second half. They scored seven unanswered points to take a 32-31 lead. The Hoya’s defense produced steals and blocks that led to the 7-0 run. Georgetown also benefited from an animated student crowd that gave the Hoyas confidence and the Blue Demons nightmares at the foul line.
“I felt like we had a little indoor Cameron going on,” Carlin said of the student fans’ chanting, referring to Duke’s famous Cameron Crazies. “Personally I fed off that. I think that’s great that people can come out and support you on a Wednesday night.”
The teams traded leads for the next few minutes before Smith again put the Blue Demons on her back. She finished with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Her 18 boards gave her 1,274 career rebounds. This amount makes her DePaul’s all-time leader, surpassing Diana Vines’ (1985-89) total of 1,269.
“It’s just something that I have to do,” Smith said of her rebounding, not even knowing about setting the record.
With nine minutes to play, the Blue Demons held on securely to a 53-44 lead. Carlin brought the Hoyas clawing back to life again.
She hit two more three-pointers a minute and a half apart to cut the deficit to 53-50. She finished with 12 points on 4-6 shooting from behind the arc.
After intercepting a pass on DePaul’s following possession, sophomore forward Kieraah Marlow brought Georgetown within one on an easy lay-up. Marlow finished the game with team highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds.
DePaul was able to maintain the lead though. Quigley made her first and only basket at the 3:28 mark, finishing with a season low two points. The Blue Demons got a lift from their bench, which scored 32 points.
“We are a deep basketball team,” DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno said of his bench. “That’s an advantage.”
Sloppy play by the Hoyas in the final minutes of the game ended Georgetown’s attempt to comeback and allowed DePaul to avoid an upset.
Georgetown has four more Big East games to climb the conference rankings, traveling first to Milwaukee to face Marquette (16-6, 7-4 BE) on Sunday, Feb 19.
