It would be an overstatement to say that the Georgetown women’s basketball team did the impossible in 1993. But for the Hoyas, the 1992-93 season was particularly special because it was the final reward after years of falling short, years of questioning whether the team would ever make it to the NCAA tournament, let alone to the Sweet 16.

For the Hoyas, it was nothing less than ultimate poetic justice.

‘We deserve the game,’then-Head Coach Pat Knapp said to The Hoya after a late-season win over Connecticut, and no one on the Georgetown campus would have disagreed.

‘I mean, we were good. We had some very good players,’current Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy, an assistant coach in 1993, remembers. ‘[But] we didn’t have all-Americans. We didn’t have the top players in the country. We just had some kids that just came in that wanted to win, that knew how to win, and just played hard.

‘I think that’s how we got to the Sweet 16. They almost refused to lose, and they just worked at it every day.’/p>

Before the 1991-92 season, which Georgetown finished with a 20-8 record, the Hoyas had never even had a winning record since joining the Big East in 1982. In fact, the Hoyas had only 12 victories and just 13 the year before. In 1992-93, they went 21-5, with some unforgettable highlights to boot.

Without some of those highlights, the Sweet 16 would have been nothing more than a distant dream.

Against first-place Miami on Feb. 9, Georgetown faced a 17-3 deficit just six minutes into the game. The trend, largely thanks to the height of Hurricane senior center Vicki Plowden, did not bode well for the game, or for Georgetown’s postseason hopes.

But the Hoyas were up by one point and with time expiring, junior Nadira Ricks (COL ’94) was fouled. oments later, with the Georgetown bench streaming onto the court in celebration, the Hoyas were called for a technical foul. When Ricks missed her free throw ” and Miami freshman Holly Rilinger made both of hers ” the game was forced into overtime.

Minutes later, the buzzer rang at 75-75. Then it rang at 80-80. If Georgetown was going to win, the victory would have to come in triple overtime.

Finally, it did. Georgetown’s Tricia Penderghast (COL ’96) hit a 10-foot jumper late in the period, and then sophomore Colleen Hanrahan (COL ’95) hit two free throws. Hoyas win, 90-88.

After a dramatic win over Connecticut and a Big East clincher ” for the first time in Georgetown history ” over St. John’s, the Hoyas were off to the Big East tournament. Georgetown was finally back.

And then, Georgetown promptly lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Providence.

The Big East regular-season champions were out in the first round. They would need to show a little more grit if they expected to survive in the greatest tournament of all.

Luckily for the Hoyas, they came up big in their first-round NCAA tournament match against Northern Illinois, before a record crowd of 1,517 in McDonough Gymnasium. The game was tight; despite being far outclassed on the boards, the Hoyas carried a one-point lead into the final three seconds of the game, when sophomore Candace Staier (SFS ’95) fouled a Husky with three seconds left.

Freshman Charmonique Stallworth, in front of thousands of screaming Hoya fans, sunk the first free throw. Tie game. With a chance to put Northern Illinois up by one with three seconds to go, Stallworth took a shot that bounced right off the rim and into the hands of senior forward Leni Wilson (COL ’93).

Considering the game’s pattern of rebounds, it was perhaps Wilson’s grab that was the unlikeliest moment of the Hoyas’ season.

Their second- round opponent was Penn State, and their venue was Recreation Hall, where the Nittany Lions had lost only three times in the previous four years.

Georgetown, however, was up 53-42 with 13 minutes left. The upset was all but in the bag before Penn State responded with 14 unanswered points.

With a minute left in the game, it was 65-63 Penn State. Then Georgetown responded: Wilson drained an 18-footer as the shot clock expired. After Penn State struck back for 67-66 and regained possession, the Hoyas stole the ball.

Wilson was fouled on the left side of the lane, holding the Hoyas’ fate in her hands for the second NCAA game in a row. She sunk both free throws, and time expired before the Nittany Lions could respond. Hoyas win, 68-67.

The run finally ended in the Sweet 16, against the towering Virginia Cavaliers. This was no close contest ” Virginia routed the Hoyas, 77-57 ” but the notion of what could have, what should have been still hurt.

The improbable ride was over.

‘We didn’t expect it to end. We didn’t want it to end,’Knapp told The Hoya. ‘It’s hard to swallow, [as] we expected to go to Atlanta. It’s the greatest season in Georgetown women’s basketball history, but we want to be back.’/p>

Georgetown, meanwhile, hasn’t been back since. But compared to the depths from which they came in 1993 after a decade of losing seasons, maybe the Hoyas aren’t so far off.