Charles Nailen/The Hoya Senior guard Lesley Walker scored 17 points against the Hokies.

Despite leading by as many as 12 points and being tied with just over a minute remaining, the Georgetown women’s basketball team couldn’t hang on in the final minute, as it lost to the Virginia Tech Hokies (13-2, 4-0 Big East) 71-64 Saturday.

The injury-depleted Hoyas (9-6, 1-3 Big East) were without leading-scorer sophomore forward Rebekkah Brunson, who is out with a stress-fracture in her lower right leg. She is tentatively scheduled to play against Syracuse on Jan. 19, depending on the status of her injury. Three players – junior guard Shawntese Charles, freshman point guard Mary Lisicky and senior guard Lesley Walker – played all 40 minutes for the Hoyas.

“We’re kind of boxed in right now,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said.

Junior forward Nok Duany led the Hoyas with 18 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 55 seconds remaining in the game. Walker scored 17.

“Some of it is fatigue. I think today it happened to Nok,” Knapp said. “That’s not a lack of effort . it was actually total dedication, but there’s total fatigue as well.”

The Hoyas started the game off well, getting out to a 27-15 lead with 8:41 to go in the first half. Walker scored 10 of those 27, with most of her points coming off of aggressive drives to the basket.

The Hokies, meanwhile, were stifled by the Hoyas’ zone defense in the first half and didn’t help themselves by shooting 30.6 percent.

The bright spot in their offense was freshman center Erin Gibson’s play. Almost all of her team-leading 11 first-half points came after she grabbed the rebound of a teammate’s missed shot and put it in. She finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, both career highs.

Gibson helped the Hokies go on a 9-0 run at the end of the first half to tie the score at 31 at the break.

But Lisicky opened the second frame by making two three-pointers in the first five minutes, and the Hoyas got their lead back to eight within 10 minutes. However, the Hokies’ play did improve, and their shooting percentage increased to 52 percent for the second half.

“I think mainly our shots started falling. In the first half we more sort of stood around and were passive, but in the second half, we realized we can’t play like that against their zone,” Hokie sophomore center Ieva Kublina said.

But in the end, the game came down to the final three minutes.

“Fast forward from the opening tap to three minutes left in the game. That’s all you have to do. Just take every play that took place in those last three minutes, and I think that becomes a macrocosm of the whole game . the total success and failure,” Knapp said.

The teams were knotted at 64 with 1:13 remaining, when Duany was called for three consecutive personal fouls within 18 seconds and on the same possession. She fouled out with 55 seconds remaining.

Gibson made her second free throw, and senior guard Chrystal Starling made two more to put the Hokies up by three. The Hoyas took a 20-second timeout, but Lisicky couldn’t find an open shot when they came back out on the court. Her missed jumper was recovered by the Hokies, who went on to outscore the Hoyas 7-0 in the final minute.

It was the Hokies’ 10th straight win. They are ranked No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Hoyas will be tested tonight as they face undefeated No. 1 Connecticut (18-0, 4-0) in McDonough Gymnasium at 8 p.m. When ranked No. 1, the Huskies are 40-6 against ranked teams and have never lost to a team ranked below No. 10. They are coming off a 96-50 win over Miami.