Some teams have no trouble compensating when their leading scorers have a rough day. The No. 14 Georgetown women’s basketball team learned the hard way this weekend that it is not one of those teams.

The Hoyas (1-1) visibly struggled in a 56-45 home victory over Longwood Friday night before getting blown out Sunday at No. 10 Maryland (2-0), 72-53. Junior guard Sugar Rodgers, Georgetown’s leading scorer for the past two years, scored a combined 17 points on 3-of-22 shooting in the two games.

Fans attending the Blue and Gray’s home opener against Longwood saw a much closer game than would have been expected: The home team was ranked 10th in the country and faced a squad from a small independent school coming off of a dismal 7-23 season.

Georgetown led for most of the contest but consistently blew easy scoring opportunities, allowing the overmatched Lancers to stay within striking distance until the last few minutes. The Hoyas, however, attributed their struggles to early-season rust.

“Do you want to come out absolutely perfect your first game? Sure, you do. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “You can call it rust, first-game jitters. It’s a W.”

Longwood senior guard Mina Jovanovic’s stellar defense of Rodgers kept the underdog competitive until late in the game. Jovanovic’s length kept Rodgers to a dismal 2-of-10 shooting in her 2011-12 debut, clearly disrupting the flow of the Hoyas’ offense. Georgetown shot 31.7 percent from the field, including an ugly 9-of-33 second half.

“She was the main person we needed to slow down,” Longwood Head Coach Bill Reinson said of Rodgers. “We had to stay home on her, we didn’t leave her. She got open a little bit late, when we got tired. But for the most part, Mina especially did a very good job on her.”

With a strong opposing defense and the effects of a long layoff derailing the offensive attack, the Blue and Gray turned to their bread and butter: defensive pressure. The Hoyas forced the visitors to commit 23 turnovers on the night, many of which led to fast break layups or forced the Lancers to commit fouls.

While the half-court game floundered, senior guard Alexa Roche kept the offense afloat early by scoring all 10 of her points in the first half. Georgetown got solid production out of its deep bench, as all 15 players saw court time, 12 of whom (including all three freshmen) chipped in with at least two points.

The players knew that Friday’s mediocre effort would not be sufficient to beat then-No.11 Maryland on its home court, but they fully anticipated a turnaround against the Hoyas’ marquee early-season matchup.

“It’s just rust,” Roche said of the Longwood game. “We’ll be fine on Sunday [against Maryland].”

But unfortunately for the Hoyas, that rust was more difficult to shake off than they thought.

The Terrapins jumped on their visitors early, forcing turnovers and missed shots to take a 12-4 advantage only four minutes into the game. While Georgetown narrowed the gap to as little as one point late in the half, Maryland’s stingy defense held strong and the Blue and Gray ultimately came out on the losing side of a 72-53 blowout.

Rodgers was once again held in check, and the impact on the Hoyas’ offense was obvious. The star guard went 1-of-12 from the field, including 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, en route to a four-point performance. Senior forward Tia Magee and senior guard Rubylee Wright did their best to compensate for Rodgers’ bad day — scoring 17 and 13 points, respectively — but their efforts were not enough.

“We press well and Maryland handled that. Sugar won’t have these types of nights,” Williams-Flournoy said in a press release. “A lot of what happened tonight typically won’t and we need to focus on getting better at what we do.”

On the offensive side, the Terps dominated the Hoyas around the basket. Sophomore forward Alyssa Thomas and junior forward Tianna Hawkins combined for a stunning 36 points and 29 rebounds, and the hosts scored 32 points in the paint to Georgetown’s 20.

“We dealt with some things that are our Achilles heel and have been in past seasons,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We don’t rebound well, we’re small — these are things we have to deal with, but we can focus on what we do well.”

The Hoyas will have to focus on improving quickly, as a road matchup with No. 20 LSU looms this Wednesday. While defense has always been Georgetown’s strength, Rodgers and the rest of the offense will have to step up if the Hoyas are to add a top-25 win to their resume.

Tipoff Wednesday is scheduled for 8 p.m EST.