For the final time this season, dreadful shooting headlined the night for the Georgetown women’s basketball team — with predictable results. The fifth-seeded Blue and Gray fell to fourth-seeded Georgia Tech, 76-64, in the second round of the women’s NCAA tournament this past Tuesday.
The Yellow Jackets (26-8, 12-4 ACC) shot a stellar 50 percent from the floor, nailing 28 of their 56 shots to advance to the school’s first-ever Sweet 16. The Hoyas(23-9, 11-5 Big East) shot only 33.8 percent from the field, a full point lower than their league-worst season average.
Georgetown started the game well, taking a 7-2 lead after a three-pointer from senior guard Rubylee Wright. But Georgia Tech ripped off a run that let them take an 11-8 lead on a three of their own. The two teams were neck-and-neck for most of the half, and the Hoyas led by one with just under six minutes to play. But the Yellow Jackets retook the lead on senior center Sasha Goodlett’s bucket and ran away, going on a 15-4 run to carry a 37-31 lead to the locker room.
“Ever since we came in, we wanted to do something special. We wanted to leave our mark on this program,”Goodlett said. “We came in thinking, ‘We have to make it to the Sweet 16. We have to take this program somewhere it’s never been.’”
After the intermission, Georgia Tech extended its lead to eight, and the Blue and Gray never pulled closer. After theHoyas fell behind by as many as 14 points, senior guard Alexa Roche made a bucket to get Georgetown within 10. Poor defense on the other end, however, allowed the Yellow Jackets to keep the Hoyas at bay.
“We had the right pace going, just at the wrong times we took a play off,” senior forward Tia Magee said. “And [Georgia Tech freshman guard Sydney Wallace] … did a great job hitting shots. They just hit shots at the most crucial times, and every time we tried to fight back, throw a punch back, we couldn’t get it rolling.”
Wallace, who played only 22 minutes in three ACC tournament games, broke out with a career-high 28 points in Georgia Tech’s opening-round NCAA tournament game against Sacred Heart and added 23 more against Georgetown. Goodlett added a double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 boards for the Yellow Jackets.
Junior guard Sugar Rodgers led the Hoyas with team highs of 14 points and six rebounds. Magee was the only other Hoya in double figures, notching 10 points. Senior forward Adria Crawford added six rebounds.
Georgia Tech is in the midst of its best season in school history. In addition to reaching its first Sweet 16, it has also set school records for overall victories and ACC victories and earned its highest-ever NCAA tournament seed. The Yellow Jackets will face their biggest test of the season next, as they face dominant junior center Brittney Griner and top-seeded Baylor.
Looking ahead, Georgetown will rely heavily on Rodgers next year, as the team will graduate seven seniors, including Crawford, Wright and co-captains Magee and Roche. This year’s seniors revitalized a struggling Georgetown program, winning at least 20 games four years in a row and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 2011.
