Having been held to just two points on 1-of-11 shooting with 10:24 remaining in a conference clash against Pitt, the Hoyas’ Sugar Rodgers could easily have resigned herself to the fact that it was an off-night. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Rodgers kept shooting.

Trailing 43-42, the sophomore guard gave the Blue and Gray their first lead of the evening as she confidently drained her first trey of the game. Rodgers proceeded to break a 47-47 tie with her next three-point attempt, and by the time the dust had settled, the Panthers found themselves in a deep hole thanks to a personal 9-0 run from the Big East’s second-leading scorer.

“I just have to keep shooting, I’m a shooter. So if I miss it, shoot it again. Miss it, shoot it again,” Rodgers said. “They tell me to keep shooting. Then I finally knocked some down.”

While Rodgers may have catalyzed the Hoyas’ push for victory, it was impressive performances from somewhat unexpected sources that kept the hosts in the game for the first 30 minutes of play.

Starting in place of injured forward Adria Crawford, fellow junior Tommacina McBride scored 10 of her 12 points to lead Georgetown in the first half. Junior guard Alexa Roche, averaging 3.0 points per game prior to Wednesday night, finished with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting off the bench and a team-high six rebounds.

“Tia Mcbride stepped up to start the game, and we needed her to do that, to come in and help as far as rebounding and scoring,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “Alexa Roche played tonight the way she should have been playing [for] all 28 games.”

It was both a dismal and disconcerting first half performance for the Blue and Gray, who raised worries that the team had not quite recovered from an 82-57 disaster at powerhouse DePaul on Sunday. The Hoyas never led before the break, seeming to lack both focus and intensity as they shot just 3-of-17 from behind the arc and lost the rebounding battle by a 21-16 margin.

While Georgetown struggled offensively, they also afforded Pittsburgh high-percentage looks on the other end of the court, as the Panthers shot 60 percent in the opening period.

However, five points in the final six seconds of the first half, including Roche’s deep bank-shot three-pointer at the buzzer, swung momentum back to the Hoyas as they pulled to within four points at the half.

“I think that it definitely sparked us, and gave us some confidence, gave me some confidence,” Roche said.

The Hoyas came out revitalized in the second half and tied the score within two minutes. As Roche contributed eight points in the first seven minutes of the half, the team was clearly more focused and aggressive. Georgetown forced 27 total turnovers, often preventing Pittsburgh from settling offensively with a relentless press.

The Hoyas’ crowning achievement of the half, however, was on the boards — an often-difficult area for the Blue and Gray. Georgetown finished the game with a 19-9 advantage on the offensive glass, which was particularly impressive considering the loss of Crawford.

“[Offensive rebounding] was actually a new goal for this game,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We knew that Adria was going to be out … We had to get somebody else running to the boards.”

Next up for Georgetown is top-ranked Connecticut. Maya Moore and the vaunted Huskies visit McDonough Arena at 3 p.m. on Saturday.