The Georgetown women’s basketball team (4-5 Big East) began its four-game road trip with a loss to North Carolina State (8-2 ACC) in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday. The Hoyas have now dropped two straight games for the second time this season and see their record drop below .500.
It was difficult for the Hoyas to get back into the game after a dismal first quarter in which they were outscored by the Wolfpack, 25-10. In a game it never trailed, NC State jumped out to an 11-2 run before Georgetown cut the deficit to five with jumpers from senior guard Mikayla Venson and senior center Yazmine Belk. However, the Hoyas were not able to hang on for long, as the Wolfpack came right back with eight straight points. By the the start of the second quarter, the Hoyas were mired in a 15-point deficit after having suffered their worst first period of the season, by far.
Head coach James Howard was not pleased. “We came out in the first quarter, and we weren’t as aggressive as we wanted to be,” he said. “We didn’t play to the scout in those first 10 minutes and that was the big difference in the game. It was hard to recover from a 25-10 deficit.”
For the rest of the game, Georgetown kept pace with the Wolfpack. In fact, the Hoyas outscored NC State in the second quarter on the back of senior forward Cynthia Petke who provided nine points in the period, but still went into the half down 14.
The second half was more of the same as Georgetown was unable to make inroads into the deficit despite solid play from Petke, Venson, and junior guard Dionna White. In the fourth quarter, the Hoyas went on an 11-0 run, including two buckets from freshman forward Tatiana Thompson, to bring them within nine points, but it came too late. In the final four minutes of the contest, the Wolfpack outscored them 10-7 to close it out.
Georgetown had major difficulties bridging the significant height disparity between the teams. The Hoyas grabbed 20 fewer rebounds than the Wolfpack in the game. In addition, Georgetown was unable to cope with the Wolfpack’s foursome of scoring talent. In accordance with their season averages, senior forward Chelsea Nelson, senior center Akela Maize, sophomore guard Aislinn Konig, and redshirt junior guard Kiara Leslie each reached double-digit scoring on the afternoon for NC State as Georgetown had few answers on the defensive end.
The Hoyas return to action on December 21st in their final non-conference game of the season against VCU (1-7 Atlantic 10). Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. in Richmond. Follow @GUVoiceSports for more updates and breaking news.
