WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Hoyas Fall To Russians GU Kicks Off Season With Exhibition Game By Julie Wood Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Sophomore Varda Tamoulianis takes a foul shot in the Hoyas’ game Friday.

In their first game as a team, the Georgetown women’s basketball team lost their exhibition match to the Russian Dynamo Team 96-69. The Hoyas kept it close throughout the first half and were down only five points at halftime, but ultimately they were unable to keep upwith the Dynamo’s fast-breaking play.

In her first game as a Hoya, freshman point guard Mary Lisicky started the game and scored 15 points. Returning sophomore forward Rebekkah Brunson had 22 points and nine rebounds. She was 10-11 from the free-throw line.

The Hoyas’ main problem was their inability to get offensive rebounds and get back on defense fast enough to prevent the Dynamo from fast-breaking and scoring easy layups.

“When we miss shots, we have to get to the offensive boards, and we have to have defensive balance. We have to have somebody back; we have to somebody slowing down the ball,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said.

The Dynamo scored their first six points of the game on layups. Their quick point guard, Sonya Tate, scored 14 in the game. Forward Natalia Mayorova contributed 16 points. The Dynamo shot 60 percent from the floor as a team and had six players in double digits.

Throughout the game, the Hoya defense failed to stop the Dynamo’s combination of fast guards and big forwards.

“Our transition defense is an issue for us. Our half-court defense was not good. We got beat by cutters, and we clearly also got beat by cutters in the zone,” Knapp said.

While the Dynamo scored quickly in the beginning of the first half, the Hoyas played a slowed-down, set motion offense run by Lisicky. It took them several minutes for players to get open on the play, but when they did, forwards junior Nok Duany and senior Shawntese Charles were able to score on short jump shots, and Brunson worked her post game.

“When we had the ball, we controlled the place. When we did not it was because they were on a half break. So what we have to do is make a team pay at the offensive end. And in the first half, we were doing that,” Knapp said.

Lisicky was not afraid to take the outside shot, going 3-for-9 from beyond the three-point arc. She created plays well for the Hoyas, driving to the hoop and getting fouled several times.

Brunson also did a good job of getting to the line, where she went 10-for-11. The team shot a quality 74.3 percent from the charity stripe.

“We can work on [our set offense]. They have time. I thought we got the ball inside, we got some things that we wanted. And different combinations effect what we do. So we can work on that, but that certainly wasn’t the lesson for the day. The lesson for the day was clearly all defense,” Knapp said.

The Dynamo got 27 defensive rebounds, while the Hoyas had 22, giving up too many second chances on defense.

Duany fouled out with seven and a half minutes remaining, and junior forward Zsuzsanna Horvath also fouled out with a minute left.

“In the second half, we had a group of people who were standing around, and that’s unacceptable. We’re not the quickest team in the world, so we have to control what we can control. And in this case, the fast break was the determining factor. Not enough offensive boards, not enough defensive balance. And it’s a painful lesson that we are going to have to continue to learn throughout the season,” Knapp said.

The Dynamo play in Russia’s “Super League,” and finished second in the European 19 and Under Championship this summer, while the U.S. team finished third.

The Hoyas play one more exhibition game before the season starts. They are scheduled to play the Perik Jumpers of Holland on Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. They will start the season against Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. in McDonough Gymnasium.

Basketball Preview