Charles Nailen/The Hoya Senior forward Rebekkah Brunson became the Hoyas’ all-time leading rebounder with 950 after the game with Rutgers. Despite the achievement, Georgetown lost 67-64.

With one minute left, it was tied at 64-64. But 60 seconds later, things had not fallen in the Hoyas’ favor. The Georgetown women’s basketball team could not hold on against a persistent Rutgers squad, dropping the game 67-64 on Sunday in Piscataway, N.J.

Despite having fought back from an 11-point deficit part way through the first half, Georgetown ran out of gas in the final moments. The Hoyas failed to get a shot off after tying the score with senior forward Rebekkah Brunson’s layup, only managing two fouls and a turnover at the end. Rutgers had better results under pressure; junior guard Chelsea Newton sank a jumper with 11 seconds remaining and junior guard Cappie Pondexter sealed the victory with a free throw seven seconds later.

The Scarlet Knights, playing at home in the Louis Brown Athletic Center in front of a crowd of over 4,000, jumped out to an early lead. Less than 10 minutes into the game the home team had a double-digit lead, 21-11. The Hoyas, however, dug in deep and came up with a 10-point run, taking the score from 26-16 to 26-26 in a span of four minutes. Junior guard Mary Lisicky hit a jumper with six seconds left, giving Georgetown the lead heading into the locker room, 30-29.

After missing five of their first six shots, the Hoyas bounced back, making 10 of their next 22 attempts and ending the half with a 39.3 shooting percentage. The Scarlet Knights were more consistent throughout the half, shooting an unassailable 46.2 percent in the first 20 minutes. Lisicky and Brunson constituted most of the Georgetown offense, combining for 19 points, while Pondexter led Rutgers with 10 points, including two three-pointers.

Going into the final 20 minutes, the Hoyas could not sustain their momentum from the first half. While the visitors opened their lead to three points, they stopped short of breaking out. Soon the teams were caught in a back-and-forth struggle for control of the lead. For seven minutes in the middle of the half, Georgetown held the slimmest of advantages, but Rutgers had a basket to match each of its opponents. With 5:43 left to play, Newton knocked in a jump shot after grabbing a rebound to give the Scarlet Knights the go ahead, 53-52.

The battle was on again to control the scoreboard as the clock wound down. With a minute and a half, the Hoyas had a chance to steal the lead with the score deadlocked at 62-62. After Rutgers senior guard Dawn McCullouch missed a three-point shot, Brunson rebounded the ball and brought it down court for the layup. The first attempt did not work, nor did the second and the third. After three rebounds and four tries, Pondexter put the matter to an end with a defensive rebound.

Pondexter’s drive was disrupted by a foul, sending her to the line. She nailed both free throws, putting her team up 64-62. From that point, the Hoyas recovered the ball with 1:05 left, sending the ball down to Brunson, who succeeded this time on the first layup attempt. As the clock ticked down the final seconds, Georgetown came undone as Rutgers showed more poise under the circumstances.

The loss marks the fourth time this season that the Hoyas have lost by four points or less, the last being the double overtime defeat by Miami. The team drops to 9-8 for the year and 3-4 in the conference. Rutgers moves up to 11-7 and 3-3 in the Big East. While Rutgers has struggled to maintain the presence it commanded last year as one of the best in the conference, it is instructive to note that of the Scarlet Knight’s seven losses, six have come from ranked opponents.

Despite the loss, Georgetown performed well, finishing with a 43.1 shooting percentage after going 14-of-30 from the floor in the second half. The team also scored 19 points off turnovers to its opponent’s five. They still could not match Rutgers, which shot 16-of-27 or 59.1 percent with four players scoring in double digits. Brunson led scoring and rebounding for the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Her efforts in this endeavor as well as her game against St. John’s earned her Big East Player of the Week honors for the fourth time this season.

The Hoyas travel to Morgantown, W Va. to face the Mountaineers on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.