Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior guard Bethany LeSueur battles Villanova’s redshirt frehsman forward Jackie Adamschick for the ball. LeSueur and the Hoyas tight defense helped them overcome the Wildcats 53-48 at home on Saturday.

The more shots they put up, the fewer seemed to fall in for the players of Villanova. As the team’s usually strong perimeter shooting fell flat, the Georgetown women’s basketball team saw an opening and squeezed through for a 53-48 victory over Villanova in an intense Big East matchup, providing a timely and satisfying win.

“I was very glad to see our players smile,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said.

Returning to McDonough Gymnasium after a two-game road trip, Georgetown (10-9, 4-5 Big East) was in need of some bolstering after a close loss to Rutgers and a drumming by West Virginia. While the Wildcats looked like the more impressive team on paper, the Hoyas found a number of ways to frustrate their opponents on both sides of the court.

“They expended a lot of energy out there, a lot of energy,” Knapp said. “You can’t leave Villanova open, and they played very smart defense.”

Villanova did not get much out of its starting lineup, with one of the top players, senior swingman Courtney Mix, hampered by a neck injury and other players getting into early foul trouble. The Wildcats did, however, receive a welcome boost from the bench to keep the team alive throughout the game. It took awhile before help could arrive for Villanova, and Georgetown burst out to an early start behind some stellar shooting. Less than four minutes into the game, junior guard Mary Lisicky hit her second three-point shot of the game, surpassing the team’s previous career three-point record with 194. A little more than a minute later, the Hoyas held a 16-7 lead.

“It’s good to get that out of the way and it’s a nice honor to have,” Lisicky said about becoming the new three-point leader.

Georgetown’s progress slowed considerably after that, and Villanova was able to use the last 15 minutes of the half to take control. While the game dragged on without much scoring, two sophomores stepped up for the Wildcats to inject some much-needed energy into the game. Both forward and leading-scorer Liad Suez and reserve guard Jenna Viani sank well-timed three-pointers to rein in the home team and eventually give Villanova the lead, 28-27, as time expired.

“We knew going into this game that they’re going to shoot threes and they’re going to make them,” Lisicky said. “We had to keep our heads, let them play their game and then play our own game on offense.”

The second half saw a number of lead changes as both sides fought for control. With a number of missed scoring chances and tighter defense, the final 20 minutes were tense but not especially colorful on offense. At the halfway point, the teams remained locked in battle 36-36.

After the Hoyas went up by three with 3:03 remaining, Suez tied the game with a basket from behind the arc with 2:38 on the clock. Whereas Rutgers had the final say the previous weekend, Georgetown had control over the waning minutes, not allowing Villanova to score. After senior forward Rebekkah Brunson hit the go-ahead jumper, the Wildcats strained to get the ball back. Having sunk into foul trouble earlier, this just sent more Hoyas to the line, with Lisicky and freshman guard Kate Carlin sealing the victory from the free-throw line. Though Villanova sought its first conference away victory at McDonough, Georgetown showed it the door empty-handed, 53-48.

“We won and we played good defense, so I’m happy,” junior guard Bethany LeSueur said. “Whenever we beat a team like this it helps us out so much.”

The Wildcats could partially blame their loss on 7-of-28 shooting from the floor in the second half. While Georgetown did not outshoot its opponent by a particularly great margin, it played more conservatively with the ball, trying to push its offense inside where it had the size advantage. Brunson had little competition down at the post and walked away with her 11th double-double this season with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Besides breaking the three-point record, Lisicky recorded another milestone by collecting her first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, 10 of them on defense.

Overall, the Hoyas had few troubles pulling down boards despite fielding more guards in the lineup instead of the often-starting junior forward Varda Tamoulianis. The team still played well in the inside finished with a 45-27 advantage in rebounding, keeping the Wildcats from getting second chances on many missed shots.

“We went small,” Knapp said. “We wanted Carmen [Bruce] and Kate Carlin in there more than Varda [Tamoulianis] so we could chase these people around.”

The win over a team that was ranked not but two weeks ago should boost Georgetown’s confidence going into a tough rematch against Notre Dame on Wednesday night. In the beginning of January, the Hoyas knocked off the Fighting Irish at the buzzer in cDonough. This time, Notre Dame has the home-court advantage and three consecutive wins against ranked opponents, not to mention an earlier victory over Connecticut.

But Georgetown seems to have thrived this season in the underdog role. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. for one of the team’s biggest tests this season.

“It looks tough . They want revenge. It’s going to be a more physical game and we’ll have to play bigger,” Knapp said. “This game we had to defend the arc; Wednesday night we’ll have to defend the paint.”