The Georgetown women’s basketball team finished its 2018-19 season with an overall record of 19-16 after going 9-9 throughout Big East play. The season was marked by several accomplishments, such as making history by reaching the Big East tournament semifinals for the second year in a row. The team also advanced to the Women’s National Invitation tournament quarterfinals, which had not happened for the Hoyas since 2009.
Georgetown started the season strongly with three straight wins against the University of Richmond, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Loyola University Maryland. The team’s season opener against Richmond featured graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako leading the team in scoring points in her first game back after missing the previous season because of an injury. The Hoyas out-rebounded the Spiders and forced several turnovers that eventually helped lead to their 73-53 victory.
The season opener was the first game that junior forward Anita Kelava played for Georgetown after transferring to the Hilltop. Over the course of the season, Kelava led the team in blocks and recorded the third-most rebounds as she played in all 35 games, starting 31 of them.
After the team’s first three consecutive wins, the Hoyas took their first loss to James Madison University, 57-69. The Hoyas faced the Dukes away in a crowded Convocation Center, preventing Georgetown from getting into any sort of rhythm.
The Blue and Gray went on to beat the University of Pittsburgh before traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada for the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout. Georgetown fell to both the University at Buffalo and Baylor University during the shootout before traveling back home to beat Fordham University by 20 points. The Rams gave the Hoyas a run for their money in the third quarter, cutting the Hoyas’ lead to only three at a score of 34-31. The Blue and Gray built momentum, however, in the fourth to eventually cruise to victory.
After three more nonconference matchups, the Hoyas finally opened Big East play with a home game against Xavier. After a tough battle, the Blue and Gray came out on top with a 68-61 victory. Senior guard Dionna White recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds, her 12th career double-double. The squad was losing 35-27 at the half but came out charged and eager to score at the start of the third quarter. The Georgetown defense forced 16 turnovers from Xavier, and aggressive offensive runs by key players such as White, Adomako and senior guard Brianna Jones led to this huge victory for the Hoyas after a competitive, back-and-forth matchup.
Jones proved to be an essential player for the Hoyas as the season went on, finishing as the team’s fourth-leading scorer. She played in all 35 games and created scoring opportunities for her teammates throughout the season, finishing with 19 assists and 15 steals.
After their uplifting victory against Xavier, the Hoyas suffered a tough 59-50 loss to Butler at home in their second conference matchup after the offense fell flat in the final quarter. The Hoyas then enjoyed a 68-52 conference victory against Providence before suffering three consecutive Big East losses against Creighton, DePaul and Marquette. They would go on to beat Creighton on Feb. 1 before losing to both DePaul and Marquette again in their second matchups.
The Hoyas went on to compete in 12 more Big East matchups before the Big East tournament. Out of those 12, the Hoyas won seven and lost five, beating Villanova in their first matchup, but losing in their second. Afterward, they lost to St. John’s the first time they met them away, but won their second matchup at home. This victory was because of the clutch performance of graduate student guard Mikayla Venson, who hit three free throws in the last 31 seconds of the game to keep the Hoyas in the lead. Venson played a critical role throughout the entire season for the Blue and Gray as one of the conference’s elite shooters.
This win came on Senior Day, where White, Adomako and Venson, all of whom stepped up and scored a combined 77 of the Hoyas’ 82 points, were honored. Adomako scored a career-high of 29, while White gained the second highest spot on Georgetown’s all-time scoring list. This victory over the Red Storm was especially sweet for the Hoyas, with this win being the first occasion since the 2013-14 season that they had beaten their New York rivals.
After closing out the regular season with an intense 67-64 victory over Xavier, the Hoyas traveled to Chicago to compete in the Big East tournament in Wintrust Arena. The No. 4 ranked Georgetown team defeated No. 5 Villanova in the first round, 76-67, thanks to the veteran leadership of mature seniors White and Adomako on the court. The team recorded its best field goal and three-point percentages in a Big East tournament game, with 52.7% and 57.1%.
The Hoyas then advanced to the semifinals, where they faced No.1 Marquette. Despite trailing by only six points going into the half, the Hoyas fell to the Golden Eagles 62-75. Runs by both teams kept the game going back and forth, but Marquette gained too much of a lead for a comeback to be possible for Georgetown.
After this disappointing Big East experience, the Hoyas traveled back home to play in the WNIT opener against Sacred Heart. The Blue and Gray won handily, with a final score of 90-59. White became the second Hoya to ever score 2,000 points. The Hoyas advanced to the second round against Harvard and earned a 70-65 win after an intense matchup that went down to the wire. They then faced Providence in the third round for the third time this season. Just like the first two matchups, the Hoyas came out on top, with a final score of 53-46.
The Hoyas faced JMU in the quarterfinals, who they had lost to earlier in the season. The outcome was the same, however, with the Hoyas losing 54-44 after the Dukes gained momentum at the start of the fourth. This road loss marked the end of the 2018-19 season for the Hoyas but was by no means an accurate representation of the season overall.
The season consisted of several nail-biters and intense play, setting the Hoyas up for another great season to come.
