Tuesday’s women’s basketball game between Georgetown and Notre Dame surely seemed destined to be a battle between two guards as All-Americans Sugar Rodgers and Skylar Diggins squared off. In this respect it did not disappoint, but it was not those two proven stars — but rather their teammates — who took the spotlight. Georgetown sophomore guard Jasmine Jackson and Notre Dame junior guard Kayla McBride each led the way in scoring for their teams with the All Americans bringing in well-rounded lines.

Jackson could not do it all on her own for Georgetown (10-7, 1-3 Big East), however. Done in by Notre Dame’s tough defense and near perfect free-throw shooting, the Hoyas ultimately fell on the road to the No. 2 Irish (15-1, 4-0 Big East), 79-64, in a classic Big East battle.

The Irish capitalized on early Hoya mistakes and started out strong, jumping out to an early 20-4 lead. Notre Dame also found holes in the Hoya defense and pounded the ball inside, which resulted in easy layups and kick-outs for open jumpers.

“We turned over the basketball. We didn’t take care of the basketball — we weren’t strong with our passes,” Head Coach Keith Brown said. “There were about 9,000 people in there, it was on national television and we are still young. Once they got their sea legs, they got back in it.”

With 8:38 left in the first half, the Irish had extended their lead to 24 points. But the Hoyas would soon respond with a run to close out the first half. Sparked by a jumper by junior forward Andrea White, the Blue and Gray closed out the first half on an 18-9 run therefore cutting the Irish lead to 44-29.

In the first half, the Notre Dame defense held Big East leading scorer senior guard Sugar Rodgers to just four points. Other players stepped up for the Hoyas, though, including Jackson — who recorded 11 first-half points — and White, who had six.

“Notre Dame played pretty good defense on Sugar [in the first half]. But when we were turning over the ball, they were getting easy lay-ups, so they were having the opportunity to really load up their defense,” Brown said. “They did a good job. They are a very physical team, and they were allowed to be physical. So that probably had something to do with it also. “

The Hoyas carried their momentum into the second half, as they cut the Irish lead to 13 on a White trey with just over 18 minutes remaining. They would get closer, however, with spectacular free throw shooting helping the Irish to fend off the comeback.

Georgetown ended the game on a 17-8 run, but Notre Dame still walked away with the 79-64 victory.

“I think we calmed down a little bit [in the second half]. They went to the line 25 times in the first half, and I think that had a lot to do with it also,” Brown said. “I think things became a little more even in the second half, and we were able to press them a little bit and turn them over, which allowed us to get back into it. We cut it to 13, but then we broke down and made more mental mistakes. “

Despite a seemingly lackluster performance, Georgetown did play up to the high level of competition, especially in the second half. Both the Blue and Gray and the Irish had 35 second-half points and grabbed 36 boards on the game. But the Hoyas forced a staggering 28 turnovers — a season high for Notre  Dame.