WOMEN’S HOOPS GU Needs More Luck Against Irish By Julie Wood Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Notre Dame freshman guard Allison Bustamante gets by Georgetown sophomore forward Rebekkah Brunson. Bustamante had 14 points in the Irish win.

Despite leading throughout the first half, the Georgetown women’s basketball team couldn’t hang on against No. 22 and defending national champion Notre Dame. The Hoyas lost their final home game of the season Saturday, 86-66.

All-American candidate junior guard Alicia Ratay led Notre Dame (19-7, 13-2 Big East) with 24 points in the Irish’s ninth-straight win. They were without leading scorer freshman forward Jacqueline Batteast, who has been out since Feb. 13 with a right knee injury.

Junior forward Nok Duany led the Hoyas (12-14, 4-11 Big East) with 22 points on a 15-for-19 performance at the free-throw line.

The Hoyas managed to stay ahead of the Irish in the first half largely due to shooting 5-for-9 from the three-point line. Freshman point guard Mary Lisicky was 3-for-5, and senior guard Lesley Walker and junior guard Shawntese Charles both added one apiece.

Georgetown also capitalized on some sloppy play by Notre Dame. The Irish had eight turnovers compared to the Hoyas’ four, and Georgetown converted them to 12 points off turnovers.

The Hoyas led by as many as seven points in the first half.

But Notre Dame kept it close with their own strong shooting as well as a formidable inside presence. Irish freshman forward Katy Flecky had eight first-half points, and freshman guard Allison Bustamante added 11 on 2-for-4 three-point shooting.

Ratay was not a factor in the first half, scoring just four points.

The Hoyas led 38-37 at halftime, but the tide quickly turned in Notre Dame’s favor as soon as the second half began.

“We stopped scoring, and they kept it up. They have better shooters than we do; it’s that simple,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said.

The Irish went on an 8-0 run punctuated by three-pointers by Ratay and Bustamante to go up 50-42 with 15:44 remaining.

Duany continued to score in the second half, mostly from the foul line, as Notre Dame got in foul trouble. It was Duany’s first game back from an ankle injury that caused her to miss last week’s matchup with Villanova.

“I thought Nok did a lot of good things. Obviously, coming back off the ankle injury, you can’t beat that. She was active; she was going to the basket; she made some good plays,” Knapp said.

But Ratay’s increased presence in the game led to increased Notre Dame success.

“I’m really disgusted that Ratay got 20 second-half points,” Knapp said. “That’s either really bad defense by us or really bad recognition by me. Probably a little bit of both.”

The Hoyas gave a poor shooting performance in the second half, making just 22.6 percent of their field goals. This wasn’t helped by the fact that they were forced to take mostly outside shots and couldn’t rely on Brunson’s inside presence.

“Becky wasn’t getting that many looks. The best looks we got were in transition -throwing it right down the middle. If we had shooters to stretch them out, they’d have to come out and guard them, and Becky would have a field day. But that’s just not the way it is,” Knapp said.

Notre Dame had 32 points in the paint, while Georgetown had 18.

It was Walker’s final appearance in McDonough Gymnasium, and she was honored along with her parents in a ceremony before the game. Walker is Georgetown’s all-time leader in assists (456) and in games played (117). She is also third on the steals list (260) and fourth in blocked shots (79).

Knapp was pleased with her 7-point performance. “I thought Lesley played really hard, particularly defensively,” he said.

Knapp’s daughter Melanie is a Georgetown senior and has been the Hoyas’ team manager for four years and was also honored before the game.

Georgetown has one regular season game remaining before the Big East tournament begins. The Hoyas travel to face Seton Hall (13-13, 5-10 Big East) tonight at 7 p.m. They fell to the Pirates, who are on a two-game losing streak, 64-45 earlier this season.