The Hoyas have won 16 straight games since just before Thanksgiving, setting a new school record.Yet that winning trend comes with a caveat: The Hoyas win, but they tend to make things interesting.

For the third time in four games, Georgetown (17-2, 6-0) let a large, double-digit lead dwindle to the brink of extinction.

“Obviously, we’re still growing,” junior guard Monica McNutt said. “And we just like to give [Head] Coach [Terri Williams-Flournoy] a heart attack. But I don’t know how many teams can continue to win [after blowing large leads].”

The resilience of the Hoyas has been one of the key factors in their success, which has earned them a more prominent role in the national spotlight, especially given their place in the beast machine of the Big East. They now stand at 6-0 in the conference, sharing the top spot with the undefeated and No. 1 team in the country – the UConn Huskies.

Unfortunately, this past week the Hoyas’ rise in the national standings was overshadowed by a pre-game fight with Louisville on Jan. 16. During the week, the university announced the one-game suspension of two Georgetown players. Respecting the athletes’ right to privacy and to avoid additional punishment for the players, Georgetown would not release their names.

This past Saturday, in their matchup with the DePaul Blue Demons, a roster check and view of the Hoyas’ bench made it clear that sophomore Tia McBride and senior Kenya Kirkland were the two players suspended.

“I think privacy is a right,” Williams-Flournoy said after the game. “Obviously, you come to the game; you can see who it is [that’s not playing]. But they’re kids, they’re children and they shouldn’t be put out there in the open like that.”

Williams-Flournoy, in her sixth season as head coach, stated that it was her responsibility to protect her players as part of the promise that she made to their parents during recruitment.

“Now, it’s not like they’re not being punished. They’ve met with [Interim Athletic Director Daniel Porterfield],” Williams-Flournoy said. “They’ve had to sit out, and for a player, that’s the worst thing they could have received. They have to do community service. They are getting punished.”

Overall, it was a difficult scenario and the only bad storyline in an otherwise spectacular season thus far for the emerging Lady Hoyas. The suspensions, however, not only attracted national attention, but also left the Hoyas without two players going into an important matchup with the Blue Demons. DePaul came into the game as a tough opponent, having already played four nationally ranked teams and flirting with a .500 record in Big East play.

Depth has been another key asset for the Hoyas, who have a full, 15-player roster.

“We are a team that [has] building blocks, and sometimes we have to self-check ourselves,” McNutt said. “The beauty of this team is that if the five we have out there is not working, then we put in another five. We have a gut-check and we are just extremely focused.”

The Hoyas needed to perform two such self-checks on Saturday. The first came at the 15:30 mark of the first half, when DePaul opened up the game on a 13-5 run, exposing the Hoyas’ weak defense against the inside game.

“We don’t start that way on purpose,” senior forward Jaleesa Butler said. “I’m just happy that we’re a team that’s able to come back from those deficits.”

The rest of the half was all Georgetown, as the Hoyas outscored the Blue Demons 35-14.

But then the second half started. In the first 8:30, what had been a 13-point lead dwindled to one as DePaul clawed back. A flurry of Hoya turnovers helped feed the Blue Demons’ march. It was partially bad luck for Georgetown, which more than once stole the ball and transitioned down court, only to have a DePaul player sneak up behind the ball handler, snatch it away and feed a cherry picker down low for an easy two points.

“We’re young, we’re learning,” Williams-Flournoy said.

The Hoyas slowed down after that, committing just two turnovers in a nine-minute span to regain a double-digit lead with just two minutes remaining, finally exorcising the Blue Demons. Georgetown once again came out the victor in the rebound war, grabbing 37 boards to DePaul’s 33 despite a significant height disadvantage.

Butler led the way with a double-double, tallying 17 points and 10 boards. Freshman guard Ta’Shauna “Sugar” Rodgers led the team with 18 points, adding five rebounds and four steals; McNutt chipped in 14 points.

Williams-Flournoy also cited dynamic sophomore point guard Rubylee Wright as a crucial part of the win. Wright came off the bench and provided a spark for the Hoyas in their first-half comeback, dishing out six assists and recording three steals.

The Blue and Gray defense was phenomenal once again, as Georgetown racked up 20 turnovers and forced DePaul to shoot an unsightly 3-of-21 from three-point range, good for just a 14.3 percent average.

The win gives the Hoyas their highest ranking in program history, the No. 17 spot in the AP poll.

The return of Kirkland and McBride will be key when the Hoyas begin a rugged Big East stretch this week, traveling to Marquette on Wednesday and then returning home to face Rutgers on Saturday.

“Everybody on this team is incredibly important,” McNutt said. “This week, we were able to stay focused and next game we’ll be excited to have them back.”

As the wins keep mounting, the Hoyas gain momentum for eventual matchups with the leaders of the Big East.

“I mean for me as a senior, [the winning streak] means a lot, because it shows that we’ve come so far [as a program],” Butler said. “But for the team as a whole, we’re always thinking about the next game, the next win.”

“This team has calmed me down,” Williams-Flournoy said. “They are just very calm; they don’t get rattled easily. They are young kids that don’t get rattled and they just do what they’re supposed to do.”

Tip-off against the Golden Eagles of Marquette is set for Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wis.”