Louisville’s all-time leading scorer Angel McCoughtry has had many high-scoring games in her career. Saturday was another one of them, as the senior forward dropped 28 points on Georgetown (12-5, 2-2) to lead Louisville (18-1, 5-0) to a 75-58 victory. McCoughtry scored 24 in the first half as the Cardinals broke open a 42-21 halftime lead and end the Hoyas’ upset hopes early.

“It’s kind of hard to defend somebody once they get on a roll,” Georgetown Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. “She’s Angel McCoughtry; she’s a great scorer.”

When McCoughtry wasn’t hitting shots, she was often attracting enough attention from the Georgetown defense for sophomore center Keshia Hines to find space in the paint. Coming off the bench, Hines scored 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line to provide the Cardinals with a reliable second option.

Several of McCoughtry’s baskets came off of turnovers and ensuing fast break layups. McCoughtry had four steals on the game, several times jumping the passing lanes at the top of the key and beating the Hoyas down the court for a layup.

But those were only a few of the many Georgetown turnovers that doomed them to defeat. When asked what her team could take from the game, Williams-Flournoy had a simple answer that indicated what she felt was the biggest reason for the loss. “We take not to turn the ball over 26 times and give up 30 points off the turnovers. Because, really outside of that, I mean, it wasn’t a bad game.” Williams-Flournoy said. “We turned the ball over, they scored. Turn it over, they score.”

Indeed, besides the turnovers, the game was fairly even. The Hoyas’ 38.6 percent shooting was slightly worse than the Cardinals’ 46.8 percent, but the Hoyas outshot them from behind the arc, going 8-of-19 compared to 4-of-11 for the visitors. Georgetown won the battle of the boards 30-27. But the Hoyas only mustered 14 points off 18 turnovers, and Louisville’s 16 point edge in points off turnovers provided the margin of victory.

The team’s seven freshmen had some big performances earlier in the season, but it had been the upperclassmen carrying the bulk of the scoring load for the Hoyas in Big East play. Senior guard Karee Houlette led the Hoyas with 15 points, with junior guard Jaleesa Butler contributing 14 and sophomore guard Monica McNutt adding 10.

“I think our upperclassmen have really done a good job stepping up,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We’re getting better, you know, we’re getting better. And at this time of the year, that’s all you really want is for your team to continue getting better.”

Next up for Georgetown is Marquette (11-6, 2-1), who travels to Rutgers on Sunday before Marquette on Wednesday. Tip-off for that contest is set for 8 p.m. in McDonough Gymnasium.

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