The Georgetown women’s basketball team (9-7, 1-5 Big East) fell, 71-66, at home to St. John’s (12-5, 4-2 Big East) on Friday night. Junior guard Dorothy Adomako and sophomore guard Dionna White led the Hoyas with 19 points each, while St. John’s senior forward Jade Walker scored 20 points and senior guard Aaliyah Lewis added nine points, eight rebounds, and 13 assists for the Red Storm.
Adomako came out firing, with two early three pointers to finish the first quarter with eight points, but the rest of the team was cold out of the gate. St. John’s was active defensively and came up with steals for easy transition baskets as well as outmuscling the Hoyas down low to get to its own misses.
Georgetown’s woes in transition and in second chance points lasted the rest of the evening, the most clear illustration of the latter less than four minutes into the game. The Red Storm managed three offensive rebounds in one possession before a layup.
“We were definitely prepared for that, but they just did a good job of going to get the rebound, and we needed to do that from the start,” Adomako said.
“They do a really good job,” said Georgetown Head Coach Natasha Adair. “They’re not a big three point shooting team, they want to score around the rim, they want to score on second chance points, and I just felt like at that point you have to come up with the ball. So it wasn’t a matter that we weren’t there; you have to make a difference; you have to finish.”
Georgetown’s second quarter began more brightly than the opening period. The game was tied at 15 apiece following the first quarter, but a three pointer from senior guard Mykia Jones opened up a 24-19 lead for the Hoyas shortly into the second period. St. John’s called timeout and stormed out of the break with a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead at 25-24. Another Adomako three made it 27-25 Hoyas, but it would prove to be Georgetown’s last lead of the game.
At the half, St. John’s had 12 second chance points to Georgetown’s four and 10 points off turnovers to Georgetown’s two. Despite Georgetown shooting 57 percent from deep, the Red Storm held a 33-29 lead because of its perfect 9-9 shooting from the free throw line.
St. John’s pulled away in the third quarter, creating five points from the Hoyas’ four turnovers to extend their four point halftime advantage to as many as 13 by the middle of the period. Georgetown again struggled on the defensive glass, surrendering seven more second chance points.
After a quiet first half, Walker began to heat up during the third quarter as well, giving St. John’s the extra boost it needed to put Georgetown in a 54-44 hole heading into the final quarter.
White saw more of the ball in her hands during the final period, helping the Hoyas chip away at the St. John’s lead. Defensive stops came at pivotal times for Georgetown, forcing a shot clock violation and getting steals to make its way back into the game. However, good defensive stops were interspersed with an inability to defend St. John’s from an inbounds pass.
“I saw it in spurts,” said Adair. “We had possessions where there were shot clock violations, we had possessions where we forced, and they took contested shots. But it was also those possessions where it got down to two seconds and we gave up an uncontested shot or a putback, and that’s what we’ll cue in on the film.”
The Hoyas forced the shot clock down into single digits multiple times and deflected a pass out of bounds, only for St. John’s to create an easy layup from a cut or an open three pointer to hold off Georgetown’s comeback attempt. The Hoyas never managed to bring game closer than five points away thanks to free throws from Lewis, who effectively spread the ball around for St. John’s against Georgetown’s defense. The Red Storm was also helped by 32 points in the paint as well as 21 second chance points.
Photo: Georgetown Sports Information
“She still has the ability to play downhill and play really fast. I thought she was patient, and that you attribute just to her being a senior leader,” said Adair. “The bigger concern, for me though, is the post. We just have to limit those post touches and second chance opportunities, and then I think her numbers will be a little different.”
Georgetown is no stranger to being down early. The team began conference play last season with a record of 2-6 en route to a 9-9 Big East finish. Adair feels that this team is capable of the same sort of run last year’s squad made.
“We just have to tweak a couple of little things, and we know that we’ve seen this team play at a high level, and we’ve seen this team be inconsistent,” said Adair. “When we hold opponents under their average, in the 50s, we win.”
The Hoyas will look to build some momentum in the conference on Sunday when Seton Hall (8-9, 1-5 Big East) visits McDonough at 2 pm ET.
