The Georgetown women’s basketball team returned home to drop a pair of in-conference battles, falling to Seton Hall 61-47 Jan. 31 in its second defeat by the Pirates this season before dropping 74-68 to St. John’s just under 48 hours later. 

After tallying the two losses, Georgetown (4-18, 1-10 Big East) has now dropped nine games in a row and sits at the bottom of the Big East standings at 1-10.

Georgetown took the floor against the Pirates (14-8, 7-4 Big East) with a depleted bench due to an illness that had swept throughout the locker room. The Hoyas, however, still managed to remain even with the Pirates initially and jumped out to a 16-12 lead after one quarter. Sophomore guard Nikola Kovacikova and senior forward Anita Kelava powered the Hoyas out of the gates by combining for 12 of the Blue and Gray’s 16 points in the quarter. Seton Hall was able to close the gap as time wound down in the period despite falling behind 12-4 in the opening minutes. 

Clinging to a small lead, Georgetown extended its advantage to six after graduate student guard Brianna Jones knocked down a three-pointer in transition with 6:03 left in the second quarter. For the remainder of the quarter, however, Georgetown’s offense could not keep pace with the Pirates, who knotted the game at 25 as the second quarter clock hit zero.

Kovacikova’s early three-pointer helped the Blue and Gray regain the lead coming out onto the court for the second half. The lead, however, would soon dwindle and mark the last time Georgetown held the advantage for the evening. 

In the third quarter, Seton Hall ran away with the lead as the Hoyas scored just six points in the period. The Pirates’ lead expanded to 13 before Kovacikova stopped an 8-0 Seton Hall run with another three-pointer in the final minute of the quarter. 

Entering the final quarter down 12, the Hoyas’ offense could not keep up with the Seton Hall offense, as the Pirates’ lead ballooned to as many as 18 in the period. When the horn sounded, Georgetown had fallen by a margin of 14, with the final score reading 61-47.

Kovacikova proved a dominant offensive force for the Hoyas, tallying 20 of the team’s 47 points and pulling in 12 rebounds for her first career double-double.

The Hoyas next took the floor Feb. 2 against St. John’s (14-8, 7-4 Big East), who came into the game at 6-4 in conference play and had recently beaten Seton Hall. 

Georgetown kept up with the Red Storm early in the ball game and trailed by just five at the end of the first period. A pair of buckets each by graduate student guard Taylor Barnes and senior guard Marvellous Osagie-Erese helped Georgetown remain in the game trailing 20-15. 

The Hoyas quickly found themselves down nine in the second quarter, however, before consecutive baskets from Kelava trimmed the margin down to five. From there, Georgetown caught fire offensively, as Gordon, Kelava, Barnes and Jones all chipped in to secure the Blue and Gray’s first lead since the beginning of the first quarter at 29-28. This group continued their strong performance as the time ran down and propelled the Hoyas to a 36-32 lead over the Red Storm at the half.

On Georgetown’s first possession of the third quarter, Osagie-Erese buried a jumper to extend the Hoyas’ advantage to six. The Blue and Gray would hang on to a four-point lead for the next several minutes as both teams entered an offensive dry spell. 

With the Hoyas up seven halfway through the quarter, their largest lead of the weekend, St. John’s narrowed the gap following a 9-2 run that evened the game at 45. Their offensive surge would not stop there, however, as the Red Storm overtook the Hoyas shortly thereafter and ended the quarter with a 51-49 lead. 

St. John’s refused to relinquish their lead from this point forward, though the Hoyas battled back throughout the period, eventually cutting the deficit down to two with slightly over six minutes remaining. 

Georgetown, however, could not stop St. John’s offensively, as a three-pointer by the Red Storm with just under two minutes remaining pushed Georgetown’s deficit to eight and forced Head Coach James Howard to call a timeout. Though the Hoyas were able to make it a four-point game in the final 30 seconds, a pair of free throws helped secure a six-point win for the Red Storm at 74-68.

Posting 22 points, Barnes was the high scorer for Georgetown, while Kelava and Osagie-Erese both boasted 12 points in the game and Jones supported with 10 points. 

Georgetown next takes to the road again for its matchup against Butler, who currently sits in third place in the Big East. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Feb. 7 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.