The typical high school physics lesson about momentum and inertia might be stored way back in the recesses of the liberal arts major’s mind, but it applies curiously well to the Georgetown women’s basketball team.

“An object at rest tends to stay at rest,” begins Issac Newton’s first law of motion. For Georgetown, that could apply to its now six-game losing streak with the most recent loss Wednesday at Pittsburgh, 79-62.

The Panthers themselves are a lesson in the first law of motion. Newton’s law continues that “an object at rest tends to stay at rest . with the same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon by an external force.” Pittsburgh Head Coach Agnus Berenato could be considered the external force that provided the Panthers a needed kick.

In just her second season at the helm, Berenato has taken the Panthers (14-6, 5-4 Big East) from 10th place out of 12 to sixth out of 16. With their victory, the Panthers guaranteed themselves a winning season for the first time in six years.

It should be said that the Hoyas (8-12, 1-8) are not exactly “at rest” – several opposing coaches have applauded their determination and intensity. After all, with only eight players on the roster, there is nothing sluggish about the effort that the Hoyas have to consistently put out on the floor.

But the defeat reflects some unpleasant trends for the Hoyas. In every Big East game that they have lost, they were trailing at halftime, including this one, in which they were down 33-29 at the break. In fact, the only time that Georgetown was leading at intermission was in its one conference win, against Providence on Jan. 11.

Also, the Hoyas have broken 30 points in the first half twice in those eight losses, while their opponents scored more than 30 points each time.

Georgetown did, however, finish the first half with a 52.4 field goal percentage, its highest so far in the conference schedule by 13 percentage points.

The Hoyas led for the first 10 minutes of the game, until Panthers freshman guard Shavonte Zellous scored a layup to tie the game at 11-11. Junior guard Mallorie Winn followed with a layup of her own to put the Panthers ahead, and with that, they were on their way to a 20-7 run.

Pitt would never let go of the lead after that point, but Georgetown was able to keep it a two-possession game through the beginning of the second half. But with 10 minutes to go, Winn and sophomore center Mercedes Walker turned up the pressure. Winn earned 16 of her 20 points during that stretch. Besides that, she had a career-high nine assists and six rebounds, with just one turnover.

Walker, meanwhile, put together a torrid run between 11:42 and 8:07, putting up both a strong offensive and defensive effort. She scored six points, pulled down two offensive rebounds, grabbed a steal and threw up a block in just under three minutes, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Georgetown’s top two scorers, sophomore forward Kieraah arlow and senior guard Bethany LeSueur, demonstrated that their weak scoring in the last game, against Rutgers, was just a fluke. arlow led the Hoyas in both points (17) and rebounds (10) for her third double-double of the season. She added three blocks as well, tying a career high.

LeSueur added 14 points and five assists. Sophomore guard Kristin Heidloff also had 14 points, including four three-pointers.

If Georgetown is going to snap its losing streak, its best chances come next week with games against Seton Hall (6-14, 3-6) at home and Syracuse (9-12, 2-8) away. Seton Hall has dropped its last four games, the most recent being a 58-77 loss to Cincinnati.

With no men’s game preceding the Hoyas’ contest against the Pirates, Georgetown will look forward to having cDonough Gymnasium packed with blue and gray. Tip-off is Saturday at 3 p.m.