The Georgetown women’s basketball team (15-12, 8-9 Big East) defeated Butler (9-19, 4-13 Big East) 49-35 in a sloppy matinee affair at McDonough Arena Friday afternoon.
Sports Information
Senior forward Dominique Vitalis had 12 points and 10 rebounds and freshman guard Dionna White added 12 points to lead the way for the Hoyas, who snapped their two-game losing streak and moved into sole possession of seventh-place in the Big East standings. Senior guard Blaire Langlois paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 18 points.
Defense reigned supreme on Friday, as both the Hoyas, 24 percent shooting, and Bulldogs, 22 percent shooting, struggled mightily on offense. But in the grit department, it was the Hoyas who separated themselves. Georgetown outrebounded Butler 57-43, including 23 offensive rebounds, and forced 20 Butler turnovers, which they converted into 17 points.
“When the ball is not falling, you got to defend. And I thought our defense was stellar,” said Georgetown Head Coach Natasha Adair. “We wanted to keep them under 50, we did.”
Georgetown took control of the game early in the second half, never letting the Bulldogs cut the lead to less than seven points, 26-19, after the 9:29 mark of the third quarter. After that, Georgetown firmly held the game in its grasp, as its leads varied from eight to 14 points until the final buzzer sounded. For a team that has struggled to maintain leads in the fourth quarter, Adair was pleased with her players’ poise.
“I thought we were a little bit more conscious down the stretch,” said Adair. “We maintained it. I thought we were better defensively.”
Both teams got off to a sloppy start in the first quarter, with only five points scored in the first minutes, all by the Hoyas. Despite grabbing 10 offensive rebounds in the period and forcing 9 Butler turnovers, the Hoyas only led the Bulldogs 13-10 after the first quarter due to 21 percent shooting from the field, 5-of-24.
Butler continued with its turnover struggles in the second quarter, coughing the ball up six more times. The Hoyas took advantage, scoring eight points off the turnovers, and finished the period on an 8-0 run to take a 26-17 halftime lead.
The Hoyas return to action this Sunday when they host Xavier (17-10, 8-8 Big East) for their regular-season finale. Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m, with the game broadcast provided by the Big East Digital Network.
