Monday was a sad night for the Lady Hoyas as they fell to Pittsburgh 68-58 in their final game of the season. Coming off a win on the road against Providence, the Hoyas hoped to make the Big East tournament with a win against Pitt. But the poor shooting that characterized their season prevented the Lady Hoyas from making a second-half run, and left them without a post-season berth.
Georgetown kept the game close early on, but Pittsburgh’s Jania Sims’ three-pointer sparked a 9-0 Panthers run. The Hoyas could not find the momentum to mount a comeback and went into the half trailing by 10.
Georgetown still couldn’t find their game in the second half, falling further behind the Panthers. Senior Kate Carlin, junior Kristin Heidloff and freshman Meredith Cox, the Lady Hoyas’ guard core, had difficulty finding their shots from behind the arc.
“We are not going to win a lot of games with them shooting 2-15 [from three-point range],” Head Coach Williams-Flournoy said after the game.
With 9:40 left, junior forward Kieraah Marlow picked up her fourth foul and came out of the game. Sophomore forward Katrina Wheeler stepped it up for the Hoyas in Marlow’s absence.
“How Katrina played is how she has to come back next year, first day,” Williams-Flournoy said. “She can really give it to us every game.”
Marlow led the Hoyas in points with 22, followed by Wheeler, who netted 18.
Pittsburgh head coach Agnus Berenato was very aware of Marlow’s ability to change a game.
“We wanted to go at her,” she said. “We knew offensively she could really do a lot of damage and she did it despite the foul trouble.”
The Hoyas tried to rally multiple times, but the Panthers kept hitting shots to break the run. Finally, with two-and-a-half minutes to go, a layup and jumper from Marlow, followed by a jumper from Heidloff, made it a four-point game with one minute left.
Georgetown had only three fouls at this point and were forced to foul the Panthers four more times to put them on the foul line and stop the clock. Pitt freshman guard Jania Sims missed the front-end of the one-and-one, giving the Lady Hoyas their chance. Wheeler grabbed the rebound, but was forced out of bounds by Panther pressure, turning the ball back over to Pittsburgh.
The Hoyas sent Pitt to the line two more times, but the Panthers didn’t miss again, sealing the 68-58 victory.
“We had every opportunity in the world,” Marlow said. “But unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on them. The game was right there in our hands.”
After all of Monday night’s Big East activity, the Hoyas remained 13th in the rankings, one spot shy of a Big East Tournament berth.
“The end score was not what we were looking for, but we were definitely in the game,” Senior Kate Carlin said afterwards. “It’s just a shame it had to be our last.”
Carlin is the lone senior on the team this year. With so many returning players, including five freshmen, the Lady Hoyas will be young and experienced next year, with a great chance at a post-season berth.
