For the Georgetown women’s basketball team, sometimes one notable act isn’t enough. The No. 17 Hoyas (18-5, 6-3 Big East) came back from a fourteen-point deficit in the second half to beat the Louisville Cardinals (14-9, 5-4 Big East) 76-52. More impressive than the comeback was how they did it: by scoring 57 points after halftime. And, if that feat wasn’t enough, sophomore guard Sugar Rodgers surpassed 1,000 career points.
The first half did not go the way the Hoyas envisioned, to say the least, with Louisville taking a 30-19 lead into the locker room.
“We were just absolutely playing awful in the first half,” head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “I told them that we were basically giving the game to them.”
The Hoyas committed 14 turnovers and could not contain the Cardinals defensively. Patience was also an issue—the Hoyas rushed shots and did not fully commit to the offensive set. That Georgetown shot a paltry 23.3 percent from the field didn’t help matters.
The Hoyas, however, weren’t going down without a fight. After Williams-Flournoy’s halftime pep talk, the team came out ready to work. Through their defense and resolve, they went on a 24-2 run in just seven minutes of play for their first lead of the game.
“It was two totally different games, you know, games that were going on the first half versus the second half,” Williams-Flournoy said. “It’s pretty obvious for them to see how easy the game can be if you play defense, and how tough it can be if you don’t play defense.”
The Hoyas forced 30 Cardinal turnovers and capitalized to score 34 points off of their miscues.
Rodgers, who is the Hoyas’ biggest offensive threat, stepped up big defensively, grabbing six steals as part of the trapping press which was essential to the huge run to open up the second half. She also scored 17 of the 24 points during the run.
“It’s not always on the offensive end,” Williams-Flournoy said of Rodgers, “she’s definitely learning how to take over a game.”
That Rodger’s 26-point effort led to her 1,000-point milestone is an unbelievable accomplishment to say the least. It’s not every day that a second-year player can take control of a game like she does, and that may earn Rodgers even more attention from the Hoya’s opponents.
The Hoyas still have seven games to go in the Big East regular season with their next game on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bearcats. They will attempt to win their fifth consecutive game. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. in McDonough Arena.
