Roles are crucial for Georgetown women’s basketball. Everybody in the program has one, and they all know what responsibilities accompany their role. Junior guard Victoria Rivera, one of the key returners from last year’s historically successful team, has a pretty simple role on offense.
“My role is to be a shooter, a knockdown shooter,” Rivera said at BIG EAST Media Day. “I just go out there, shoot, run my lanes, get shots up.”
Making shots is easier said than done, but it’s a job that Rivera excels at. She led the team with 48 3-pointers last year, by far the most of any player returning for the 2024–25 season. Her role as a shooting threat is crucial, but coach Darnell Haney expects the same excellence off the court, especially in rallying her teammates.
“Victoria Rivera is our sniper; her job is to make shots. She has to make shots from all over the floor,” Haney said at BIG EAST Media Day. “Her role has been expanded from just being the catch-and-shoot shooter to being more of a leader, more of a voice, and being more of a lead dog when it comes to being an outside dawg.”
In her third year, Rivera will be a key leader on a team with seven new players. Integrating the newcomers is no easy task, but the junior has always gone above and beyond. As graduate guard Kelsey Ransom attested, Rivera has put in the work to develop herself over the past three years, beyond just improving her shooting.
“Victoria has grown as not only a player but as a teammate and as a leader on this team,” Ransom said at BIG EAST Media Day. “But she has done a phenomenal job of embracing what it takes to win, to be a better teammate and leader for everyone else. She still has a lot of growing to do, but she is a sponge and she is one of the hardest workers I know. And I think once she buys into that as her character trait she can be one of the best Georgetown’s ever seen.”
Rivera’s persistence and growth are paying off for a Georgetown team looking to build momentum off a historic postseason. Her hard work stood out not just to her teammates, but also to Haney, who dubbed her the most improved player of the offseason.
“I think she’s come a long way as far as leadership is concerned. She had a couple of good games last year, but we want to make sure that she’s consistent. And she’s worked on that consistency, and she’s been so much more consistent this year than she was last year, and I’m proud of her for that,” Haney said, emphasizing her tenacity.
This year’s team needs to focus on consistency as they look to build on last year’s unprecedented postseason run. In the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament, the Hoyas reached the championship game, losing to a strong UConn team. Still, it was the first time Georgetown had reached the BIG EAST championship game, which helped them earn a bid to the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT). This impressive tournament run was one reason that Haney, who had been the team’s interim head coach after the tragic passing of former head coach Tasha Butts, became the permanent head coach.
Last year’s team achieved great things, and this year, the squad wants to build on their achievements with a single goal: reaching the NCAA tournament. Even though there might be higher expectations after last year’s historic performance, Rivera and the team are unfazed.
“I think our goal has always been to make it to the NCAA tournament,” Rivera said. “We don’t care about any outside noise. We’re gonna do whatever it takes to get there. Whoever we have to go through, whoever’s in the way, we’re gonna do that. And we don’t care about any pressure. There’s no pressure.”
The team’s search for an elusive spot in the NCAA tournament will be difficult—the last time Georgetown made the cut was in 2012. Still, Rivera and the Hoyas are confident because they’ve been working hard in the offseason to become a tournament-caliber team. Rivera highlighted some of the aspects of her game that she has been working to improve:
“Driving, pulling a one-dribble pull up, catch and shoot. Just being a threat all around the perimeter,” Rivera said. “Being a three-level scorer, rebounding more, and playing better defense. Our identity is a defensive team, so each and every one of us getting better on our defense is just gonna help us win more. And as a scorer, just being more efficient, that’s a cherry on top.”
Defense is central to this Georgetown team’s identity. Even though Rivera’s primary role is to be a shooter and scorer, she takes immense pride in her work on defense. It’s impossible to be such a strong defensive team without working as a unit, practicing what Rivera calls “we-fense.” However, as the team’s sharpshooter, Rivera has a unique defensive role for the Hoyas.
“Since I am a shooter, I usually guard the other team’s shooter, and I love doing that. I love chasing them,” Rivera said. “The other team makes it really hard for me to shoot, so why not do the same for them?”
On both ends of the court, Rivera doesn’t overcomplicate her job. Her role is to make shots and prevent the other team’s best shooter from making them. She’s embraced that role wholeheartedly and has grown into a stronger leadership presence on the team. As Haney explained, Rivera knows what she has to do to contribute to a successful season.
“She just has to continue to own our principles and do things the right way. She’s been doing that all summer and all preseason, so I’m excited about her and her growth in doing that.”
