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Junior forward Jaleesa Butler

Georgetown continued its strong start Wednesday, putting on an impressive defensive display to defeat the Fordham Rams 58-46. The Hoyas improved to 6-1, their best start of Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy’s tenure, by following a recipe of hard defense, a balanced offense and aggressive rebounding.

The two sides traded baskets in the opening minutes, with Fordham (3-4) taking an 8-7 lead. A three-point play by freshman forward Adria Crawford sparked a 12-point run for the Hoyas, capped by a three-pointer from junior guard Shanice Fuller, to take a 19-8 lead. Georgetown struggled for much of the remainder of the half, however, as Fordham closed the gap to 26-21 by halftime.

Georgetown came out of the locker room on fire, starting the second half on a 12-2 run to take a 38-23 lead, the biggest of the game. The Rams never closed the deficit to less than six points as the Hoyas cruised to another victory.

“I thought we [were] a little flat, we started out a little flat in the first half,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We just told them in the locker room that, you know, we had to pick up our intensity. . We definitely couldn’t play the second half the way we played the first half.”

Crawford led the Hoyas with 12 points and 10 rebounds, her second double-double of the season. Crawford, the Big East’s leading offensive rebounder at the start of the night with 4.8 offensive rebounds per game, had 10 rebounds, five on the offensive glass, to lead the Hoyas. Her 12 points were also tops on Georgetown. Fuller, who entered Wednesday as the Hoyas’ leading scorer (9.8 ppg), tallied nine points and five assists. Freshman guard Rubylee Wright added seven points and five assists.

The key for the Hoyas was once again defense. The Rams shot only 29.5 percent from the floor, the third time this season the Hoyas have held an opponent below 30 percent shooting. Even Becky Peters, Fordham’s freshman guard who led all scorers with 13 points, did so on only 4-for-13 shooting. Junior forward Randall Hurst, the Rams’ leading scorer (12.5 ppg), shot 0-5 from the floor, registering only four points on 4-of-8 free-throw shooting.

“We was just trying to place an emphasis on defense because defense wins games,” senior forward Krystle Hatton said. “Offense will come around, so we’re just trying to get some stops.”

Sophomore guard Megan Mahoney, the team’s second leading scorer, did not play.

ahoney is the cousin of ESPN’s Tony Reali, best known as Stat-Boy from “Pardon the Interruption,” who was in attendance at McDonough Gymnasium.

The victory puts the Hoyas back on track after a disappointing end to their Thanksgiving weekend. Georgetown cruised to a 60-41 Friday victory over North Dakota State in the Ayres Hotels Thanksgiving tournament before a 54-49 defeat at the hands of the Loyola Marymount Lions in Saturday’s final, a loss solely attributable to the Hoyas’ inability to put the ball in the hoop.

“We should have won. I mean, we shot 21-for-71, you’re not going to win too many games missing 50 shots,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We beat them in every other category, except making shots.”

“We played hard, we beat them in every other category: rebounding, steals, anything. Hustle points we won,” junior guard Meredith Cox said of the tournament finale. “We didn’t shoot well. That’s the difference.”

Indeed, Georgetown outplayed Loyola Marymount in every other facet of the game. The Hoyas won the battle on the boards 48-41, forced 19 Lions’ turnovers while committing only 13, and registered 16 assists to the Lions’ 14. But not many games are won with a 29.6 shooting percentage or 2-of-22 shooting from three-point range, so the Hoyas made shooting a priority heading into the Fordham game.

“Since our loss, a lot of us have come in and made more shots,” Cox said. “We need to keep working hard and keep getting better, but we need to make shots. … But we’re bouncing back.”

The Hoyas shot 50 percent in the second half to bury the Rams, and now they move forward to focus on today’s visit from James Madison (3-2).

“We’re taking it one game at a time; we got the win tonight but tomorrow we are going to get right back at it to prepare for James Madison,” Williams-Flournoy said.

Hoyas to Face James Madison Tonight:

The Hoyas look to build upon their 6-1 start this weekend in their final two games before the student athletes break for finals. Tonight Georgetown hosts the James Madison University Dukes (3-2) in what should be one of their tougher games so far this season before traveling to Richmond, Va., for a Sunday matchup against the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams (5-2).

“We have a big challenge on Friday,” junior guard Meredith Cox said following the Hoyas’ victory Wednesday. “JMU is going to be probably the best team that we’ve played up to this far.”

And Dawn Evans is probably the best player they will have played thus far. The Hoyas will have to slow down James Madison’s sophomore guard, the NCAA’s leading scorer through Nov. 30, if they are to remain undefeated at home. She averages 30 points per game entering Friday, including a season high 37 in a Nov. 28 71-63 loss to Boston College. Georgetown has only given up 54 points per game this season, and the Hoyas have the depth to keep fresh, quality defenders on Evans. If Evans gets on a roll early, however, it could be a long night for the Hoyas.

Senior center Quanitra Hollingsworth has been a force in the paint for VCU. The Rams’ leading scorer, with 15.2 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game, could challenge a Hoya frontcourt that has outrebounded opponents by an average of 8.7 rebounds per game.

Following Sunday’s visit to VCU, the Hoyas have a couple weeks off before hosting Gardner-Webb University on Dec.19.

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