Christina Calderon/The Hoya Senior guard Leslie Tyburski grapples with an Appalachian State defender in the paint during Saturday’s game. Tyburski had three rebounds on the day.
When the Hoyas’ best player went down six minutes into the game, it was up to the other seven players on the already shorthanded team to step up.
When sophomore forward Kieraah Marlow went to the sidelines with a freshly injured knee, senior guard Bethany LeSueur responded, scoring 15 points in a 19-3 run to close out the first half. The Georgetown women’s basketball team went on to earn a 59-44 win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers of the Southern Conference in McDonough Gymnasium last Saturday.
“It was just a matter of . the players stepping up and realizing that Ki’s out, okay, now we need somebody else to step up and do what it is that she does,” Georgetown Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of Marlow.
The Hoyas (4-2) posted their best scoring percentage of the season, converting 48.8 percent of their attempts, while the ountaineers (1-4) could only manage 29.1 percent.
“They play hard all the time. We didn’t,” Appalachian State Head Coach Adrienne Shuler said. She thought her team played well “in spurts,” but that it needed to do a better job of maintaining that through the entire game.
Georgetown took an early but small lead, which Appalachian State challenged after Marlow’s exit. The score went back and forth as the two teams traded baskets. The Mountaineers were up 16-13 until LeSueur knocked down the first basket in that 19-3 run.
Relying on her jump shot, LeSueur went 6-for-7 in the span of six minutes, including her first three-pointer on the season. Altogether, LeSueur’s 17 points in the first half equaled her best output in an entire game this year.
“I just think for me, it’s getting in a rhythm,” LeSueur said. “I’m very much a rhythm player, and I feel like . every day I’m becoming more comfortable, and that’s huge for me.”
But LeSueur was unable to match her production in the second half. She put up only two more points before a hard foul took her out of the game for several minutes.
“It got my ankle pretty good. I twisted it,” she said. “I didn’t have the same spring off my foot, but give it like a day and it’ll be fine – nothing serious.”
Marlow, however, was to undergo an MRI for her knee on Monday, according to Williams-Flournoy. Ben Shove, Georgetown assistant sports information director, said that Marlow’s condition is currently day-to-day.
Appalachian State tried to take advantage of Georgetown’s setbacks in the second half, scoring 25 points to the Hoyas’ 27 in that period. But despite some mini-runs, the Mountaineers could never cut the Hoyas’ lead to less than 11 points.
For the Hoyas, earning the win without Marlow gave them a confidence boost. In limited time, Marlow only scored four points on the day, but she had averaged a solid 16.4 points per game before Saturday’s game.
“I think it was kind of good for us, because we know that we can play without Ki and that we can all step up when we need to,” sophomore guard Kristin Heidloff said.
Senior center Christine Whitt contributed eight blocks, a career high. Six came in the first half. Heidloff and senior swingman Kate Carlin added 10 points each.
Williams-Flournoy was also pleased with the Hoyas’ improved free-throw shooting. After a poor 38.1 percent showing in last Wednesday’s overtime loss to Fordham, Georgetown netted 63.2 percent of its free throws against Appalachian State.
“Definitely at the free-throw line [Georgetown’s shooting] improved, but I still think we can do a bit better,” Williams-Flournoy said.
Junior forward Danielle Edwards came off of the Mountaineer bench to lead her team in scoring with 12 points.
The Hoyas will face their toughest opponent of their non-conference schedule next, as Georgetown travels to Kentucky (7-0). Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
