It’s not often that a winning team is outshot, outrebounded, and outhustled by its opponent. Unfortunately, that was the case on Sunday evening, when the No. 19 Georgetown women’s basketball team came out ready to run with the No. 17 Louisville Cardinals with all the necessary intensity and none of the execution. Trailing by nine points within the two minute mark, it looked like the women were ready to falter in front of the McDonough Arena crowd. And even after a last-ditch rally brought them within three points, the effort came too late for the Hoyas, who fell to the Cardinals 64-61.
“I’m not gonna say [season hopes] were destroyed,” head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said after the game. “We’ve still got a lot of games left to play.” Still, she was disappointed by her team’s stats, especially the dismal 33 percent from the field and perhaps a game-deciding 54 percent from the free throw line.
Despite the loss, Williams-Flournoy insists that the women don’t need to put in more time at the gym. She rather cited lack of confidence, especially in shooting, as the major flaw in their play as of late. While she was proud of her defense, which forced 25 Louisville turnovers, and the team’s 18 offensive boards, the Hoyas were nonetheless incapable of snagging a win.
“It had to be something else,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Well ding ding ding, that’s an easy solution! We shoot 30 percent from the field, we don’t make shots … our defense is going to keep us in the game, but we’re not making shots to win the game.”
She insisted that the game comes down to making the shots, not creating more offensive opportunities.
“I run the offense the first play of the game,” she said. “I get Tia Magee a layup. I’m a genius. [But] regardless of what I do, they still gotta make the shots.”
Magee, a senior forward, was disappointed by the loss, but feels encouraged that the team was at least able to run the ball against the Cards’ stout defense and young, quick offense.
“We had a lot of momentum [in the first half],” she said. “We’re human. We get tired.”
The team faced more trouble in its next battle, Tuesday’s face-off against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown. Good shooting proved paramount to the Hoyas’ 64-54 win. Junior sharpshooter Sugar Rodgers scored 17 points, and Magee matched Rodgers’ effort in the second half. Magee’s rally was a deciding factor of the game, as the Hoyas came into the second half trailing by one. Although the Mountaineers are currently unranked, a win against a Big East program cannot be underrated for the Hoyas, especially considering their recent tough stretch.
The women will stay home this weekend, hosting Rutgers on Sunday afternoon. This year’s Rutgers team is coming fresh off wins against USF and DePaul to take on the Hoyas. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at McDonough Arena.
