In a riveting game, Georgetown Hoyas Women’s Basketball (10-9, 3-5 BIG EAST) narrowly escaped defeat against St John’s (11-8, 1-7 BIG EAST) after a go-ahead layup by star graduate guard Kelsey Ransom.
The Hoyas started off strong in the first quarter, with freshman guard Khadee Hession scoring the first 2-point field goal. In the ensuing minutes, 6’3’’ center Ariel Jenkins used her height advantage over a short St. John’s team to register second-chance points, grabbing numerous offensive and defensive rebounds. The first quarter ended with Georgetown in a commanding 17-8 lead for the Hoyas.
St. John’s opened the next quarter in a full court press, which slowed down the Hoyas somewhat. However, the Red Storm remained allergic to scoring, missing enough shots that they went into halftime with a shocking score of 14 points to Georgetown’s 27.
Encouraged by the end of the first half, St. John’s coach Joe Tartamella and his players redoubled their efforts in a seemingly impossible defensive press. The Hoyas struggled immensely against this pressure and began to crumble. They gave away a flurry of fouls on defense and committed several turnovers and shot clock violations: the third quarter ended with 4 team fouls, 2 of which were Ransom’s, and St. John’s creeping up 42-27.
In the fourth quarter, the St. John’s offense also rose to the occasion. Their shots were now falling, and they managed to score 27 points this quarter–the same as their points from the last 3 quarters combined.
Between the fouls and the intense St. John’s defense, the Hoyas continued to crumble. Hession began the quarter with a foul and took a charge. On the second Hoya possession, Ransom finally broke through the press and scored, and Rivera scored 2 three-pointers back to back– sending the crowd (and the bench) into an eruption of cheers while keeping the Hoyas ahead by double digits.
Then the impossible happened – St John’s erased a ten point lead down to zero in less than two minutes. If Georgetown head coach Darnell Haney tried to implement a new strategy to break the press in the fourth quarter, it backfired. The Red Storm accumulated 13 points from steals and 26 points off turnovers, the majority of them in this span. With 2 minutes and 13 seconds left in the game and all the momentum with the visitors, this was shaping up to be a collapse of epic proportions.
Finally, Ransom saved the Hoyas as she usually does, making a clutch shot to take the lead 54-52, with 33.8 seconds left.
But fouling was a problem all game, and the next possession, Ransom committed her fourth, the Hoyas’ seventh of the half.. On the 1 and 1, if St. John’s graduate guard Ber’Nyah Mayo made the first basket, then the second agonizingly rolled around the rim and went in, taking it to 54-54. Not looking good, but Georgetown lived to fight for the next 19.4 seconds, the ball and fate of the game in Ransom’s hands.
Straight into a full court press, Ransom fought across midcourt, drawing a foul. Taking the ball out at the opposite baseline, the Hoyas broke the press again. Breaking free from her defender on the perimeter, Ransom saw an open lane to the basket and took it, laying the ball off the backboard with a magic touch from her left hand. SCOREEEE! With 2.3 seconds left in the game, the Hoyas led 56-54.
St. John’s attempted a reverse layup off a backdoor cut in the final seconds, but the ball clattered off the backboard, then the rim, to no avail. It worked earlier in the game, but it didn’t work now. And that’s the game.
Though Georgetown hung on, this game showed just how much this team relies on Ransom to carry them to victory; without her defensive poise and clutch offensive plays, it would have been a much different story. This was a vital win for Coach Haney’s Hoyas in the BIG EAST standings, as a loss would have put them at 2-6, tied with St. John’s. Currently sitting seventh of eleven, they still have a tough road stretch ahead to try and move into the upper half of the standings. Their next two matchups, away to the Marquette Golden Eagles (12-6, 4-3 BIG EAST) and home against Lauren Jensen and the red-hot Creighton Blue Jays, (16-3, 8-0 BIG EAST) will go a long way in determining the outcome of this season.
Georgetown women’s basketball travels to the Marquette Golden Eagles on Jan. 25 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on BIG EAST Digital Network. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
