The Georgetown women’s basketball team (15-14, 9-9 Big East) finished the season on a four-game win streak to earn a 4-seed in the Big East Tournament, which will be held in Chicago at Wintrust Arena. For the second straight year, the Hoyas will face Villanova (18-11, 9-9 Big East) in the quarterfinals, with the Wildcats as the 5-seed thanks to Georgetown’s superior record over third place Butler (21-8, 11-7 Big East). Villanova holds the tournament edge over the Hoyas, winning five of seven matchups, but last year, Georgetown pulled off a quarterfinal upset in Wintrust Arena, winning 63-58 as the 6-seed. This season, the two teams split the regular season series in two contrasting games.
Georgetown came away with a 68-63 win at McDonough Arena, overcoming an opening 8-0 run, as well as an eight-point Wildcats lead in the fourth quarter that ended a three-game skid. “We couldn’t afford to take a loss,” head coach James Howard said after the win. “This was huge for us.” All-Big East Second Team guard, graduate student Dorothy Adomako, led the way with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while All-Big East First Team guard, senior Dionna White added 25, though no other Hoya scored more than six. The team also took 25 trips to the line to balance out Villanova’s 3-point shooting. The big afternoon from Adomako and White overcame Villanova’s balanced scoring, with All-Big East Second Team forward, junior Mary Gedaka, junior guard Kelly Jekot, senior guard Adrianna Hahn, and senior forward Jannah Tucker all in double digits.
The game at Finneran Pavilion proved to be a nightmare for the Hoyas, as the Wildcats stomped to a 91-43 blowout, featuring a 39-point Villanova third quarter. Villanova led by as many as 53 points in the fourth quarter, as Jekot and Gedaka scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, with Tucker and Hahn again following in double digits. For the Hoyas, only freshman guard Tayanna Jones reached double figures, as the team shot a paltry 27.3 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep, while Villanova poured in shots from everywhere, shooting 64.9 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from beyond the arc.
In the rubber match, the Hoyas will look to ride their top two scorers and find more production from graduate student guard Mikayla Venson, who scored a combined five points in 36 minutes against the Wildcats despite averaging 10.8 points per game. Defensively, they’ll hope to keep Villanova closer to the opponent’s average of 59.9 points per game, rather than the 77 the Wildcats averaged over the two games. Villanova will likely rely on its 3-point shooting, as it’s attempted 838 3-pointers on the season, the second most in the conference, and the Wildcats shot upwards of 40 percent in both matchups.
The two teams will meet in the second quarterfinal of the day, which tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET. For coverage of the tournament, as well as the rest of Georgetown’s athletics programs, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
