In her fourth season as head women’s basketball coach, Terri Williams-Flournoy has made some giant strides with the program overshadowed by the Georgetown men’s basketball team. Williams-Flournoy led the team to a 10-3 record in the non-conference season, including winning streaks of five and three games. With one of the best defenses in the Big East, the Hoyas have beaten a ranked Syracuse team, lost by a mere 10 points to national powerhouse Rutgers and, despite a 3-7 Big East record, have been a thorn in the side of many of the league’s leaders.
After suffering a nasty defeat at the hands of second ranked Connecticut by 32 points, the Hoyas (13-10, 3-7 BE) are turning to the competition ahead. This Sunday the team heads to Louisville to face off against the Cardinals (17-7, 6-5 BE), another middle-of-the-pack Big East team, before returning home to take on a strong DePaul squad next Wednesday.
Playing in Louisville puts Georgetown in a tough position. The men’s team’s defeat at Freedom Hall this past weekend is evidence of the Louisville fan power. In addition, the Cardinals are coming off of a four-game winning streak, their most recent win coming against St. John’s Wednesday evening, 96-74.
Rather than looking at the cons, though, Georgetown is focusing in on their strong points, particularly its defensive strategy. They will need to keep the intensity high for the whole 40 minutes in order to stop Louisville’s forwards Candyce Bingham—who slotted a career high 24 points against St. John’s—and Angel McCoughtry, who dropped 41 points against 25th-ranked DePaul last week.
“We’ll have to guard from the beginning,” Coach Williams-Flournoy said. “Our defense can really get us into some good offensive positions.”
With the Big East season beginning to draw to an end, the Hoyas are lacking in chances to improve their conference position. They currently rank 11th in the Big East, and this year, more than past years, the team has a good chance of qualifying for the Big East Tournament.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position where if we take care of what we can control, we’ll be in good shape,” Coach Williams-Flournoy, who has kept a positive attitude throughout the season, said of her team’s chances of success in the remainder of the season. “That being said, we still have to go out and execute and somewhere we’re going to have to get some victories.”
