Girls just want to have fun. After the Georgetown women’s basketball team smacked Navy 51-34 to extend its current win streak to seven games, who wouldn’t be having a good time?
“It’s generally been a lot of fun, something that none of us here have experienced at Georgetown,” junior guard Kristin Heidloff said of the streak.
This season so far has definitely been a new experience for the Hoyas. Last season they started out with two wins but finished with only 10. Their biggest win streak was three. This year the Lady Hoyas dropped their first two games, but are already only three victories away from matching last year’s total after this seven-game win streak.
Most of the fun for Georgetown has occurred away from McDonough Gym. Six of their wins, including the past five, have taken place on the road, making the streak even more impressive.
After increasing their roster size from last season with five freshmen and two eligible transfers, the Hoyas are beginning to reap the benefits of the added depth during the streak. Junior transfer Amanita Diop is averaging 9.4 points and 8.2 rebounds on the season. Freshman guard Shanice Fuller hit a last-second layup to defeat Eastern Kentucky 79-77 to start the streak on Nov. 18 while red-shirt sophomore Brina Pollack sunk a free throw to edge East Tennessee State 53-52 on Nov. 24.
“I think the freshmen have been doing a great job adjusting to the system and learning our offense,” junior forward Kieraah Marlow said. “Knowing that anyone can get in foul trouble any given night, they’ve always been ready to play and come prepared and focused.”
Sometimes when you’re having fun, you tend to get a little sloppy. Georgetown has been far from perfect during its seven-game win streak. Turnovers have been a problem in particular. The Lady Hoyas have turned the ball over 20 or more times in each of the past four games. The only thing saving them is that their opponents are turning the ball over even more.
“It’s not like we’re blowing teams away. We’re not playing great basketball,” senior guard Kate Carlin said. “We’re winning, which is great; but we’re not winning to the caliber that we need to be winning.”
As they prepare to test their streak against No. 7 UConn (5-0) tonight at 7:30 at home, the Hoyas will have to step their game up.
“We just have to prepare, and I think mostly it’s prepare for ourselves,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of the UConn game. “When you play very good teams like [UConn], you really don’t have a lot of room for errors.”
At least one Hoya believes that the fun will continue for the women’s basketball team.
“I think we will surprise UConn,” Marlow said.
