The Georgetown women’s basketball team (5-5, Big East) fell on Saturday afternoon to No. 10 NC State (10-0, ACC), 76-65. Senior guard Dionna White led the way for Georgetown with 25 points. Graduate student guards Dorothy Adomako and Mikayla Venson each added double-digit scoring, but the Hoyas only had four players score in the contest. The Hoyas struggled to stop NC State freshman center Elissa Cunane, who scored 23 points, and senior forward DD Rogers, who grabbed 20 rebounds.
Georgetown came out of the gates strong, with White scoring four points early to give the Hoyas a 7-3 lead. Cunane dropped five as the Wolfpack came storming back to take the lead at 11-7, but Venson and senior guard Brianna Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Georgetown a 13-11 lead. Another Venson three put the Hoyas up by four, but NC State led 21-20 after the first behind three 3-pointers from junior guard Aislinn Konig.
“They spread the floor, they’ve got good shooters,” head coach James Howard said. “They’re really good shooters, and they spread you, so it opens you out.”
After just two points in the first quarter, Adomako exploded for seven straight points during a 10-2 Georgetown run, giving the Hoyas a 30-23 lead. However, the Hoyas went through a scoring drought of over six minutes, allowing NC State to go on a 16-2 run to end the half. The Wolfpack took a 41-34 lead into halftime and held a 24-15 rebounding advantage, as well as 10-4 lead in assists. Despite the NC State lead, White led all scorers with 11 points.
“I think just having an aggressive mindset,” White said of her scoring performance. “My teammates were looking for me, and I knew I needed to knock down the shot.”
The Hoyas came out firing to begin the third quarter, with Jones hustling after an offensive rebound, which led to a Venson 3-pointer. White followed up with a 3-pointer of her own to cut NC State’s lead to one. However, Georgetown couldn’t capitalize on their defensive stops, and the Wolfpack eventually settled into the quarter and scored five straight to push their lead back to six. NC State would stretch its lead to as many of 12 points before Adomako stopped the run. White split two defenders for a floater in the lane to cut the deficit back to single digits, but NC State would finish the third quarter with a 56-44 lead.
“If you see the scoring droughts, the scoring droughts are coming off of good looks,” Howard said. “We had Dorothy wide open on a three, we had Dionna wide open on a three, we had Mikayla wide open on a three. Those things have to go in our favor. We have to hit those shots.”
Cunane was scoring at will down low with smaller Georgetown defenders on her, and she opened the fourth quarter with five straight points to give the Wolfpack a 17-point lead. Adomako then scored five straight of her own, first getting a three-point play, then blocking a shot before running the floor for an easy transition layup. The Hoyas would come no closer though, as graduate student guard Kiara Leslie, who finished with 18 points, hit a 3-pointer that killed Georgetown’s momentum, and Konig hit a three to put the Wolfpack back up by 15 with 3:28 to play. Venson cut NC State’s lead to 10 with 2:13 to go, but Rogers came up with an offensive rebound that let her team run out more of the clock and draw a foul. They sealed the deal by making their free throws, and remain perfect on the season.
“In the past, we would see top-four teams, top-fifteen teams or ten teams come in here, or we go there, and the losses were 30, 40, 50 points. But now, this team is fighting,” Howard said.
Georgetown has a two-week break before traveling to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on the December 21 to face Rider (4-5, MAAC) in its last test before opening conference play on the 29th against Xavier (6-1, Big East). For coverage of those games, as well as coverage of all of Georgetown’s athletic programs, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
