After hanging in for 35 minutes, the Georgetown women’s basketball team vanished from the court.

The Hoyas (1-3) took back the lead, 49-48, with 5:21 to go. But then their offense ground to a halt. The Richmond Spiders (4-0) trampled their opponents in the remaining time by a 14-1 margin to pick up a 62-50 win at home on Wednesday night.

“We just couldn’t get the ball to drop,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “We got the shots, but we just couldn’t get the basket.”

Georgetown has struggled to get on its feet this semester, but it fell to new depths in the final minutes against Richmond. After fighting back into the game and waging a back-and-forth battle throughout the second half, the team collapsed in the final minutes, letting the Spiders walk away with the game.

“We had excellent defense against Richmond . we held them at times,” Williams-Flournoy said. “It’s not something that needs a quick fix. It does feel like we’ve been right there, in games we should’ve won.”

The Hoyas, after posting their first win this season against Delaware last Saturday, started off in a slump. Falling behind 16-8, the team struggled to find its shot against a Richmond team that was already fired up. The tables turned after eight minutes, and Georgetown streaked back to within one point, 19-18. The two teams fought for the lead, with the Hoyas holding the edge 27-26 at the halftime buzzer.

Despite the slow start, Georgetown finished the half with near-50 percent shooting while their defense kept Richmond to just above 30 percent. The second half saw a role reversal as the Hoyas once again faded away behind a series of missed opportunities.

“The problem is the spurts where we don’t score. We play good defense, stop them here and there,” Williams-Flournoy said. “In the game of basketball, you do need to score.”

Georgetown kept up with its host for much of the first half, trading the lead several times. Freshman forward Kieraah Marlow stole back the lead with a layup at 5:21, but then the Hoyas failed to score from the field again. The team missed nine field goals and only pulled down two offensive rebounds while Richmond reeled off five jumpers, four free throws and grabbed eight of the Hoyas’ missed attempts.

“The shot selection has been a little bit bad, and we don’t get the offensive rebounds,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We haven’t been outrebounding, and we’re giving way too many offensive rebounds against teams that we should be outrebounding. We need to rebound, shoot and box out.”

The Spiders rode their 54 percent shooting percentage to a 12-point victory as Georgetown struggled with 9-for-27 shooting. The Hoyas are still struggling to find multiple scorers as Marlow and senior guard Mary Lisicky were the only two to reach double digits. Senior forward Varda Tamoulianis pitched in with nine points. Offensive rebounding was also a big issue; Georgetown only collected eight off 30 missed shots.

Richmond only put two scorers in double digits, but they were very productive. Senior forward Kate Flavin and junior guard Saona Chapman combined for 40 points to lift their team.

“I am thankful for the win but disappointed in our team because their focus was not there tonight,” Joanne Boyle, the Richmond head coach, said in a press release. “We are relying on Saona too much and need to have a leader from our post positions.”

The Hoyas will need to regroup quickly before they take on the Black Knights of Army (3-2), a first-time opponent, tonight at 7:30 p.m. in McDonough Gymnasium. The team, however, has maintained a positive feeling despite the recent setbacks according to the coach. The matchup against Army will allow Georgetown to find its groove on offense. For Williams-Flournoy, it will be less a matter of defense than of find ways to put the ball in the basket.

“We have to realize that it’s a little about us. I want to see us work better on offensive execution, do things we’re supposed to do.”