Miami Outlasts Georgetown in Second Overtime Hoyas Relinquish ultiple Leads, Fall to No. 21 Hurricanes By Michael Grendell Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior forward Varda Tamoulianis reaches for a layup. Starting against Miami, she scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds but could not prevent a loss.

Despite holding a seven-point lead with less than three minutes left in the game, the Georgetown women’s basketball team fell to No. 21 Miami 57-55 in second overtime Wednesday night.

“I’m proud of our team. We were in a position to win,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said. “The bottom line is that we had some key plays there where we could have scored and had good looks, but it didn’t happen.”

After unraveling in the second half against Connecticut the previous weekend, Georgetown shrugged off the loss to head into iami for another matchup with a nationally ranked team. The Hurricanes have recently stepped up to emerge as a top-flight program and with sophomore guard Tamara James, last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year, leading the team, Miami has only improved.

The Hoyas seemed unfazed by the home team in the Convocation Center in Coral Gables, Fla. Georgetown built up a lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, grabbing a 16-7 edge. From there, the Hoyas’ fortunes were eclipsed as the Hurricanes forced themselves back into the game, launching a 12-point run. After junior forward Varda Tamoulianis dropped in a layup with six minutes left in the half, Georgetown’s offense evaporated as the team shot 0-of-10. Miami held the lead at the half, 24-20, having broken through a tough Georgetown defense toward the end of the half

“We still have a lot to work on offensively, and we can definitely take better care of the ball,” Knapp said.

The Hoyas would not allow the Hurricanes to slip away as they had let the Huskies do a few days earlier, and they effectively put a clamp on the home team’s offense, forcing turnovers. Ball-handling would plague both teams, as Georgetown ended with 26 turnovers and Miami with 31. While the Hoyas’ defense was solid, the offense struggled and the second half proceeded with little activity on the scoreboard. For much of the half, the lead teeter-tottered between both sides until Georgetown pushed ahead in a four-minute stretch begun around the six minute mark.

Despite going up by seven, the Hoyas failed to close the game. With some crafty work by James and junior guard Yolanda McCormick, coupled with some off-the-mark free-throw shooting from the visitors, Miami fought back. A three-pointer tied the game at 45-45 with 57 seconds left, and the game soon went into overtime.

“The end of the game is like a distant memory,” Knapp said. “It’s hard to say specifically what went wrong, but we cannot continue to shoot free throws this way.”

The Hoyas shot 5-of-11 from the line in the second half, and their inconsistency would hurt them in the two overtime periods.

In the first of the five-minute overtimes, Georgetown took the initiative early. With a steal from freshman guard Kate Carlin, the Hoyas retrieved the ball and knocked in the go-ahead basket. With a defensive rebound from senior guard Rebekkah Brunson, who had a team-high 12 total rebounds for the night, Georgetown was up by four. The team could once again not hold the lead, and the team had to battle its way into another tie, 53-53, in the last seconds of the period.

The second overtime was a low-scoring affair as both teams failed to put away any chances. Georgetown scored early, but Miami held the edge. The team scored with a three-pointer and a free throw. After missing some last-minute free throws, the Hoyas conceded defeat, 57-55, to level their record this season to .500, 7-7.

“We didn’t have the last shot; they had them all,” Knapp said. “We obviously felt that we would win, but we had to be tough defensively and we’re coming together in that area.”

The Hoyas succeeded in holding the Hurricanes to a mere 30 percent, while shooting a slightly better 33.3 percent (22-of-66). Brunson led the game in scoring with 18 points, earning another double-double. James led Miami with 17, but left the game in the second overtime after hitting her head on the floor and straining her neck. Junior guard Mary Lisicky helped out on both ends with 10 points, five assists and a game-high five steals.

“We came together and did some good things. We were giving them fits the whole night and executed our defensive game plan really well,” Knapp said.

The Hoyas continue conference play with a matchup with Virginia Tech, ranked No. 19 in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA poll, the team’s third consecutive ranked opponent. The game is at 3 p.m. in McDonough Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 17. Knapp said he is not worried about how his team will handle another high-pressure game.

“The players welcome the competition. We have put across to our team that the Big East is now a league where anybody can beat anybody in any gym. We have to stay in the present, because in the future they’re all ranked teams.”

With Notre Dame, who loss to Georgetown 76-73 last week, stunning Connecticut 66-51, no one in the Big East can take its opponent lightly. In a wide-open conference, the Hoyas may yet spring some more surprises.