The No. 19 Georgetown women’s basketball team (17-5, 5-3 Big East) will be in Kentucky tonight, attempting to complete a Blue and Gray sweep of Louisville (14-8, 5-3 Big East).

The game will take on even more importance than a normal midseason matchup in the brutal Big East, as the two teams are currently tied for fifth in the conference with identical 5-3 records. The Lady Hoyas enter the game riding a three-game win streak, including a marquee home victory over then-No. 8 West Virginia last week.

“You know, I was looking at the schedule this morning and we’ve got about seven games to go — eight counting Louisville — and it’s kind of that time of the year,” senior guard Monica McNutt said. “It’s time for things to start clicking. Notre Dame was a huge wakeup call for us, then we came back against Villanova, West Virginia, even Seton Hall on Saturday. It’s money time now, it’s time for us to start putting it all together.”

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have lost three of their last five games and will need to finish the season strong to earn a favorable seed in the conference tournament. But despite its middling record, Louisville is nothing to scoff at. The 11,000-plus fans who flock to the KFC Yum! Center for Cardinals games have helped the hosts amass an impressive 11-1 home record.

“It’s a typical Big East road game,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “It’s a tough place to play, but every game on the road in the Big East is tough. We have to sit down and defend.”

Louisville has also played an especially difficult schedule at home, highlighted by wins over then-No. 8 Kentucky and then-No. 18 St. John’s.

One thing the impressive strength of schedule cannot do is prepare the Cardinals for Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers. The star guard has continued to light up the conference in her sophomore season, averaging just over 18 points, five rebounds and two steals per contest.

The supporting cast, however, has played just as large a role as Rodgers in the team’s recent success. Junior forward Adria Crawford scored 14 points and led four Lady Hoyas in double figures in Saturday’s road win at Seton Hall.

“I thought we had pretty well-rounded scoring,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We had four starters in double figures. We rebounded extremely well, but the one thing we have to continue to work on is our turnovers.”

Louisville is led by the tandem of junior forward Monique Reid and sharpshooting freshman point guard Shoni Schimmel. Reid, a powerful post player who shoots 56 percent from the field, will pose a significant threat in the lane for undersized Georgetown.

“Limit her touches, box out, keep her off the boards,” Crawford said of her strategy to stop Reid. “All the things [Williams-Flournoy] tells us to do about every post player.”

Despite her lack of experience, Schimmel has taken the Big East by storm to the tune of 16 points and five assists per game. She leads the conference in assists per game and three-pointers made, headlining a dangerous Cardinals backcourt.

“Their freshman point guard is really good,” Williams-Flournoy said. “But you know, that whole starting five is pretty good. You’ve got the three guards shooting in the high 30s from the three-point line.”

While the hostile environment will undoubtedly make for a difficult game, the Lady Hoyas are confident that sticking to their principles will get them a victory.

“It’s really no different than anywhere else,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We’ve got to defend, we’ve got to rebound, we can’t turn the ball over because they do like to press.”

“We’ve got to stop them from doing what they want to do, play defense, and get out in transition,” McNutt said.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.