The No. 19 Georgetown women’s basketball team got past Rider Sunday afternoon at McDonough Arena, but their 58-51 win flashed even more warning signs about the Hoyas’ vulnerabilities.

The opening minutes of their games have not been the Blue and Gray’s forte this season, but the Hoyas seemed to come out of the gate even more flat-footed than usual.

The malaise lingered for most of the first half, with Georgetown shooting a miserable 29.4 percent from the floor. The Hoyas were equally poor on defense, letting the Broncs sink 11 of their 22 first-half field goal attempts.

Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy blamed the first-half struggles on early foul trouble for two of Georgetown’s best players, senior guard Rubylee Wright and junior guard Sugar Rodgers.

“We weren’t playing defense the way we typically would in the first half. We had a majority of our starters on the bench with fouls, so we had to rely on the bench to play minutes they weren’t used to playing,” Williams-Flournoy said. “So then you have other people on the floor, getting out of our normal swing. Continuity is not there.”

With Wright and Rodgers on the bench, Georgetown required more production from its reserves. Seven different Hoyas scored in the first half.

Overconfidence may also have played a part in the Blue and Gray’s slow start. The players probably didn’t expect much of a challenge from Rider, which has struggled so far this year.

“We came in thinking we were going to knock their head off, and that wasn’t it,” Rodgers said.

The Blue and Gray broke down on defense, fouling excessively and not grabbing boards. The referees charged Georgetown with nine first-half fouls, against only two on Rider.

“We can’t foul and put them on the free-throw line. … We’re going down and giving them open shots,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Rider continued to fight all the way through the game. That’s something our guys need to learn how to do.”

The open shots weren’t the only problems the Hoyas faced. They were outrebounded, 23-15, in the first half, grabbing a mere six defensive boards over that span.

“Usually if we aren’t making shots, we are getting back on defense,” Rodgers said. “But we were failing. That was what we were having problems with.”

Georgetown trailed 29-24 at the half and seemed only marginally livelier in the opening minutes of the second half. They let Rider extend their lead from four points at the break to 11 points with 17:48 to go.

Despite their struggles, the Hoyas had the talent to overcome the deficit. Although they fought hard, the Broncs also committed a series of forced and unforced errors that let Rodgers and her teammates get back in front.

“During halftime [the coaches] emphasized that the middle was wide open,” senior guard Alexa Roche said. “Their 2-3 [zone] was extended way too wide. That gave us a chance to get shots in the middle.”

Improved rebounding also contributed to Georgetown’s turnaround, and a strong second half allowed the team to outrebound Rider for the game.

“They were shooting a lot of shots, but that weak-side rebounding let us push the ball up the floor to our guys,” Roche said.

A powerful run by Rodgers, who had 21 points and eight rebounds on the afternoon, carried the Hoyas to a lead with 8:43 to go in the game. And although Rider played tough until the final buzzer, Georgetown never looked back.

Senior forward Tommacina McBride and junior center Sydney Wilson also made big contributions, scoring 10 and eight points, respectively. However, the Hoyas missed senior forward Tia Magee, who sat out her second straight game with a knee injury.

“We’ve been resting her knee. She hurt it in the game against Georgia, and she fought through to help us get the wins [in Las Vegas],” Williams-Flournoy said. “It was time to rest her a little bit. But she’ll be back against Pitt. But we miss her.”

Overall, the Hoyas showed that they have the class to beat back tough challenges. But Rider is no Notre Dame or Connecticut, and the Big East powerhouses would have pounced on Georgetown’s early struggles to build an insurmountable lead.

On Wednesday, the team will face Pittsburgh — hardly a league powerhouse, but a strong foe nonetheless. The Hoyas will need to clamp down on defense if they hope to stifle the Panthers.

“What we have to do is get back to playing defense. We’re fouling way too much. Way too much. We’re a much better defensive team than that,” Williams-Flournoy said.