The Georgetown women’s basketball team (13-10, 6-7 Big East) had their four-game winning streak snapped by the No.24 DePaul Blue Demons (19-7, 11-2 Big East), 80-66, Sunday afternoon in McDonough Arena. The Blue Demons never trailed in the game.
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DePaul was led by a tremendous shooting performance by senior guard Chanise Jenkins, who scored 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting from three-point range, and didn’t take a shot from inside the arc. With her numbers from this game, Jenkins moves into third on the list of career three-pointers made in DePaul program history. Jenkins also added seven assists, four rebounds, and a steal. Two other Blue Demons scored in the double digits: senior swingwoman Megan Podkowa had 26 points, as well as eight rebounds and six assists, and junior guard Jessica January approached a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists.
Freshman guard Dionna White was the only Hoya in double digits, with 24 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. This line set her career high in scoring, and tied for the team’s season high. The effort was especially impressive, considering White played 79 of 80 combined minutes this weekend against Marquette and DePaul.
Georgetown sophomore guard DiDi Burton posted only six points, but also dished out 10 assists and a block.
The Hoyas were still without sophomore guard Dorothy Adomako due to illness. Georgetown Head Coach Natasha Adair didn’t attribute the loss to her absence, however.
“We showed against Marquette that other people can step up,” said Adair.
The Hoyas’ shortcomings were not offensive; Georgetown shot virtually the same percentage, 45.6 percent (26-of-57) as DePaul, 46.2 percent (30-of-65), and are 4-2 when scoring between 60 and 69 points. Rather, the Hoyas just were unable to rotate with the constant ball movement that led to 28 DePaul assists, or find any other way to slow the rain of threes delivered by the Blue Demons.
“They shot unbelievably; they made shots when we were there,” said Adair. “They’re 24th in the country and they’re No. 1 in our league for a reason”
The opening minutes were dominated by DePaul, who jumped out to a lead as large as 15-4 with 5:05 left in first the quarter. Both teams then went on a 2:20 drought which was finally broken by a pair of made free throws by Burton. This sparked a 10-3 Hoyas run to close the first quarter 18-14.
In the opening 2:00 of the second quarter, Georgetown twice cut the lead to one possession, but DePaul went on a 7-0 run and held the cushion, going into the half up 37-28.
Coming out of halftime, the game continued to look bleak. The deficit fluctuated between six and 10, until White finished a layup through contact and hit the and-one free throw to set off a 12-5 back and forth to tie it at 50-50 at the 2:30 mark. However, DePaul used the remainder of the quarter to again build a five-point lead, and never looked back in the fourth. The Blue Demons didn’t trail by less than 10 for the last 7:39, and led by as many as 17, even subbing in an entire fresh set of bench players for the final minute and a half to relieve the starters.
Although disappointed by the loss, Coach Adair was proud of how the team played.
“They all fought until the end… We’re knocking on the door. I’d love to see them in the championship game of the Big East tournament, and I think as we continue to get better as a team we can put ourselves in a good position.”
The Hoyas return to action on Friday at Seton Hall, tipping off at 7:00 p.m., and then again on Sunday at St. John’s at 2:00 p.m.. Both games will be available live on the Big East Digital Network.
