Following a big win over Loyola Maryland, the Georgetown women’s basketball team fell 47-49 at home to the Temple Owls. Despite leading for 38 of the game’s 40 minutes, the Hoyas could not hold back a powerful run by the Owls, resulting in a last-minute Georgetown defeat.

Georgetown (3-3) started the game strong with the team’s aggressive and energetic defense holding Temple (4-3) to just six points in the first quarter. The Owls could not convert shots all quarter, making just 7.1% of their 14 field goal attempts. On the other end of the court, sophomore guard Kelsey Ransom — the Hoyas’ second-highest scorer this season — gave her team an early offensive boost with the six unanswered points at the beginning of the game. The low-scoring first quarter ended with Georgetown up 12-6.

In the second quarter, the Hoyas continued to dominate. With solid drives from Ransom and strong rebounding from senior forward Jillian Archer and graduate guard Milan Bolden-Morris, Georgetown maintained a healthy distance from the Owls. The Hoyas’ defense even held Owls forward Mia Davis, who made history last week as Temple’s second-highest scorer of all time, to just six points. The scoreboard showed Georgetown leading 24-17 heading into halftime.

Heading into the third quarter, the Hoyas continued to methodically extend their lead. Georgetown resecured its largest margin of the night — 13 points — when Bolden-Morris hit a 3-pointer with 2:24 left in the period. Still, Temple stayed in the game, ending the quarter down 11 points.

Although the Hoyas maintained control for the majority of the game, Temple came alive in the fourth quarter. Catalyzed by three triples from forward Caranda Perea, the Owls showed vast improvement from the first quarter. Temple bettered its field goal percentage to 57.1% and eventually outscored the Hoyas 22-7 in 10 minutes alone. Georgetown’s defense also struggled, with Temple successfully putting forth an aggressive press and forcing the Hoyas to commit costly turnovers.

With under three minutes left in the contest, the Owls closed in, building an impressive momentum which narrowed Georgetown’s lead to just one point. Quickly, Ransom was able to make two steals and score a 3-point jumper and a free throw, creating a four-point cushion as the clock ticked down to two minutes remaining. However, that effort wasn’t enough to stop Temple from finally tipping the game in its favor with only 24 seconds on the clock. In their final play, the Hoyas tried to pass into the paint only for the Owls’ defense to interfere and force a turnover. Having no choice but to foul in the last seconds, the game ended with Temple defeating Georgetown 49-47.

In a postgame interview, Georgetown Head Coach James Howard reflected on the difficulty of losing such a close game. 

“A loss like this where you feel as though you have control of the game and then have to walk into the locker room after and see the faces of your players who are hurting is tough. No team is going to stop playing, and while there’s still time on the clock, you have to make good decisions with the basketball,” said Howard.

While the Hoyas were visibly rattled by their unexpected defeat, the team still put on a commendable performance, outplaying Temple in three of four quarters. In addition, Ransom ended with a solid 15 points, Bolden-Morris added 8 of her own and junior forward Graceann Bennett cleaned the glass with an impressive 10 rebounds and 8 points. 

Next, the Hoyas will travel to play their first Big East conference games of the season when they face Creighton (3-2) on Friday, Dec. 3, and Providence (3-4) on Sunday, Dec. 5 in road contests. 

Howard says he wants to help his team learn from this game and apply the lessons to important conference play ahead. 

“With conference, you have to step it up because every team and game is going to mean something,” Howard said. “We have to figure out a way to finish games and continue to defend, knock down shots and take advantage of the shots we can make. We are going to try to find a way to build the team back up and shake this loss off so we can be prepared for Creighton.”