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Sophomore guard Monica McNutt

Anyone who doubts the potential of the Georgetown’s women’s basketball team need only reference Wednesday’s drubbing of Brown. The midweek game saw the Hoyas (2-0) ride a stifling defense and a balanced offense to an 83-42 victory over the Bears (0-3).

All 14 players who suited up for the Hoyas scored, and on the defensive end limited Brown to 16-54 shooting.

The Hoyas got off to a quick start with freshman guard Adria Crawford scoring a layup on first possession to take a 2-0 lead. A couple of fast break layups and a sophomore guard Monica McNutt jumper later, Georgetown led 8-2.

This score was the last before the Hoyas hit their longest scoring drought of the game, from 16:35 to 12:54. During that period, however, Brown could only close the gap to 8-6, the closest Brown would ever get to catching Georgetown. Soon after, the Hoyas offense heated up, using an 18-2 run over the next five minutes to break the game open.

By halftime, Georgetown led 35-13 and had silenced the Brown faithful, due largely to the suffocating defense. At the break, the Bears had more turnovers (17) than points (13), shot only 23.1 percent from the floor and were yet to attempt a free throw. No Bear had more than one basket in the half, and the Hoyas had as many steals (six) as field goals allowed.

With two freshmen starters and six freshmen getting playing time, Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said she believed the first half performance was simply a matter of the team settling down.

“We got the first-game jitters out against Jacksonville State and I think the team was more comfortable going into this contest,” Williams said.

Unlike Brown, Georgetown had little trouble offensively, shooting 51.7 percent from the floor for the half, despite an abysmal 0-7 from behind the three-point line. The Hoyas came out just as strong after the break, scoring the first 10 points of the second half to put the game further out of reach. Then junior guard Meredith Cox found her groove, shooting 5-of-7 from behind the arc in the second half for a game-high 15 points. The Hoyas will count on more nights like that out of Cox, last season’s team leader with 41 three-pointers.

“Mere’ played extremely well [on Wednesday] – she really found her rhythm and our team recognized that and managed to get her the ball,” Williams-Flournoy said. “She has the ability to shoot like that, but it will be up to the rest of the team to capitalize on her ability and up to her to have confidence in her shot.”

The freshmen also showed marked progress in their second game. Crawford’s 11 points were second only to Cox – and her eight rebounds led the team. She was particularly aggressive on the offensive glass, grabbing six offensive rebounds. Crawford also added 4 steals on the defensive side of the court. Freshman forward Latia Magee also made her second start for the Hoyas, scoring five points on 2-3 shooting and adding four rebounds and a block.

The rest of the freshmen also contributed in reserve roles. Guard Alexa Roche made a big impact defensively with two blocks and two steals, while adding four points on the offensive end. Forward Amanda Reese had seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, guard Rubylee Wright had four points and four assists, and forward Tia McBride added two points while grabbing three rebounds. Continued improvement by the freshman class will be critical to the team’s progress this season.

Williams-Flournoy was happy with the team’s play, only finding fault with the team’s sloppy ball handling, which resulted in 21 turnovers. “I thought the team played well overall. Our posts looked good, and we were able to get them the ball which is why we shot so well from the field,” Williams-Flournoy said. “There are always things to improve upon. I would have liked to have fewer turnovers, but overall the team played well.”

Georgetown returns to McDonough to play Central Michigan in the home opener Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.

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