WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GU Wins Season Opener By Julie Wood Hoya Staff Writer

Gabe Cappelli/The Hoya Senior guard Lesley Walker passes to freshman point guard Mary Lisicky.

Well, they got one.

Facing a season in which the Georgetown women’s basketball team might find wins hard to come by, the Hoyas were glad to get a 69-42 victory over Farleigh Dickinson in their season opener Friday.

Junior forward Nok Duany led the way for the Hoyas with 18 points and six rebounds. Freshman point guard Mary Lisicky added 16 points, seven boards and six assists. Sophomore center and last season’s leading scorer Rebekkah Brunson did not play due to a violation of an undisclosed team and NCAA rule, according to Head Coach Pat Knapp.

The Hoyas took control of the game early, going up 16-0. They were able to hold onto this lead throughout despite some defensive lapses and sloppy play.

The Hoyas are facing a problem of depth as they begin the regular season, and the matchup against Farleigh Dickinson showed that the starters are the core of this team. They accounted for 77percent of the scoring.

Lisicky played all but two minutes of the game, in her first start for the Hoyas in the regular season. “Mary’s always going to play solid for you,” Knapp said.

The leader for the Knights was sophomore guard Natallia archanka, who scored 17 points, five points and four assists. archanka was able to do most of her scoring after the Hoyas were forced to play zone defense due to several players in foul trouble. This allowed Marchanka to drive to the basket through the zone and get the Knights going.

The Hoya defense was marked by a lack of communication, something that could prove to be a problem for the team as the season goes on.

“Our communication on defense, our defensive positioning and our rebounding is always a major focus for us,” Knapp said.

As reserves came off the bench at the end of the first half, Farleigh Dickinson began to chip away at the Hoyas’ lead, cutting it to 11 points.

“It’s because the people coming off the bench did not execute offensively or started fouling or stopped rebounding,” Knapp said. “We got too lazy, too nonchalant. We did not play intelligently at the end of the first half.”

However, in the second half the Hoyas regained control, relying on senior guard Lesley Walker’s tough one-on-one defense of archanka. The Knights also did not help themselves by shooting just 23 percent in the game.

On the offensive end, Duany powered the Hoyas, who were clearly not as effective without Brunson’s presence. Offensive mistakes incuded quick shooting, errant passing and a lack of patience. The Hoyas shot 43 percent as a team and committed 26 turnovers.

“The worst stat here is 26 turnovers against a team that didn’t even press. That’s terrible. It’s people playing too fast or people not playing intellingently, or people being sloppy. We have to consistently focus in on all of them,” Knapp said.

Foul trouble plagued both teams throughout the game, with the Hoyas racking up 10 fouls with more than six minutes to go. With and inexperienced bench and tougher opponents down the road, the starters cannot afford to foul as much.

“It’s not about how much you beat a team by, it’s about playing well every play,” Knapp said. “We started to get sloppy. We looked bad, and I don’t like it when we look bad. If a team is better than us, and we’re working our butt off, then not everything’s in our control. But everything was in our control out on that floor tonight, and there were some times when we didn’t control things.”

Georgetown played its second game of the season last night at Colgate. They take on Rider on Saturday in McDonough Gymnasium at 4 p.m.

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