After a series of disheartening losses, the Georgetown women’s basketball team’s first Big East win was as much a necessity as a triumph. The Hoyas were able to relax just a little bit after stepping up for a convincing 85-73 win over St. John’s last Sunday.

“It’s not just good for me. It’s good for the kids, too,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “They needed it. We needed a win.”

The team returned to McDonough Gymnasium for its first home game of the new semester and looked the sharpest it has all season. Led by its pint-sized point guard, freshman Kristin Heidloff, Georgetown put up its second highest scoring output and its second best shooting percentage of the season at a formidable 52.6 percent.

For a team that managed only 29 points against Boston College and 33 points against Rutgers, the game was a marked turnaround. Heidloff, stepping up to a starting role, galvanized the team with a career-high 23 points. She capped her performance with four three-pointers, eight assists and four rebounds.

In a rare display for the team this season, another three teammates joined Heidloff in double-digit scoring. Sophomore guard Kate Carlin had 15 points and four steals while senior forward Varda Tamoulianis contributed 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Bethany LeSueur scored a career-high 20 points, hitting eight-of-11 shots from the floor.

The Hoyas (6-9, 1-3) started off the game on a high note, breaking away with eight unanswered points. The Red Storm (13-3, 2-3) threatened to get back in the game, but their 16 turnovers in the first half gave their hosts too many opportunities to stay ahead. Georgetown took a six-point lead into halftime, 39-33, and did not look back.

The second half had better ball control from St. John’s, but too many missed second-chance shots and too many fouls kept the visiting team from getting back in the game. The Hoyas kept their cool through the Red Storm full-court press and refused to slow down the pace.

Relief may have been the strongest emotion for the team, finally leaving the Big East basement that it shared with lowly Providence as the only winless teams in conference play. And after major losses to ranked teams earlier this month, the victory gave a morale boost to a young team that has faced some big setbacks the past few weeks.

“We knew that we needed this game to get us out of that slump,” she said. “I think that this game gave us some confidence back that we’d been lacking.”

Heidloff has had to step in for senior point guard Mary Lisicky, who has a hip injury. Senior guard Sarah Jenkins is also struggling after a foot injury. On top of this, freshman forward Kieraah arlow, a top scorer this season, has been hampered by a knee injury.

The Hoyas dumped on the Red Storm for the 10th straight occasion. While St. John’s went out to a team-record 11-0 start, its Big East competition has shut it down in three of five matchups.

For Williams-Flournoy and the team, the weight on their shoulders has eased up a little as they showed that they could teach their foes a few things this new semester.

“You have fun when you win,” LeSueur said. “It wasn’t as fun before, and the coaches were a little bit more upset and we got frustrated. A win cures a lot of things.”