Approximately three-quarters into the much-anticipated 2011-2012 season for a veteran Georgetown team featuring seven seniors, the No. 17 Hoyas appear poised for a third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and are deadlocked for third place in perhaps the most treacherous conference in the nation. The Blue and Gray have confirmed that their recent burst onto the national stage was no fluke, but the latest chapter in the story of Georgetown womens’ hoops has been anything but smooth.

Returning 12 players — including All-Big East preseason first team selection Sugar Rodgers — from 2011’s Sweet 16 squad, the Hoyas found themselves in the preseason top 10 for the first time in program history. The final days of autumn were marked by excitement and a belief that the Blue and Gray belonged in the upper echelon of the college game.

“I’m just hungry to win. … This year we want to go past the Sweet 16. We’ve been there twice, and I’m sick of that,” Rodgers, a junior guard and the current Big East leading scorer, said.

However, just one week into the season, Georgetown’s legitimacy as a national power faced serious questioning. In what would prove to be an Achilles’ heel for the Hoyas, poor shooting and uninspired offensive displays resulted in two road losses to No. 9 Maryland and then-No. 20 LSU after a season-opening win over Longwood. Managing to put up just 53 and 40 points, respectively, in the two contests, the Blue and Gray shockingly sported a losing record and sank 11 places to No. 21 in the polls.

But with their backs against the wall, the Hoyas responded to their earlier-than-anticipated wake-up call. The loss in Baton Rouge would be their last of 2011, as Georgetown rattled off 11 consecutive victories to close out the year, including a 64-56 neutral-court upset of then-No. 10 Georgia and a 71-46 drubbing of No. 7 Miami (Fl) at McDonough Arena.

“They were averaging 81.0 ppg, we were only giving up 51.0 ppg and we continued to preach over the past 10 days that if we could play defense, we would win,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said after defeating the Hurricanes.

Despite the momentum heading into the heart of its conference schedule, the Blue and Gray’s opening month of Big East action featured ups and downs. Three of the Hoyas’ first four home matchups ended in defeat, and a 36.2 field-goal percentage placed the team 15th in a conference of 16 schools. However, after a tough 64-54 road triumph over West Virginia and a 54-36 lockdown of then-No. 11 Rutgers, Georgetown now sports a 6-3 conference record with the toughest portion of its schedule behind it and a focus set on making a statement in the final seven regular-season matchups.

“What I told the team was that we beat some ranked opponents in December, but now it’s the end of January, and at this point you need a signature win going later into the season, into the Big East tournament, into the NCAA tournament,” Williams-Flournoy said following the Rutgers rout. “We really needed a signature win over a ranked opponent.”

Looking forward, the Hoyas are projected by ESPN’s Charlie Creme to be awarded a No. 4 seed in the 2012 NCAA tournament this March. The Blue and Gray were a No. 5 seed last spring, when they handily beat Princeton and routed Maryland on its home court before dropping a hotly contested matchup with top-ranked Connecticut in the regional semifinals.

The Hoyas have established a trademark brand of basketball featuring an up-tempo press defense that converts turnovers into quick points and hampers opponents by preventing them from establishing their set offenses.

The Blue and Gray’s 51.1 points allowed per game is fourth in the Big East, and their relentless defensive pressure has held opponents to an average field-goal percentage of just 33.4 percent, the third-best mark in the league. Williams-Flournoy’s squad averages 12.0 steals and maintains a +7.45 turnover margin — good enough for the third and second-best ranks in Big East, respectively.

Having already faced eight ranked opponents, Georgetown’s final seven games pit the Hoyas against five foes with losing conference records and only one matchup with a top-25 team, albeit an extremely difficult one, at No. 3 Connecticut. While the Huskies and No. 2 Notre Dame appear to have sewn up the top two spots in the Big East, the Blue and Gray will be well on their way to a top-four finish should they simply dispatch the opponents that they are favored to beat.

Rodgers’ goal of improving on last year’s postseason finish is certainly not out of reach, but the star shooter’s 19.8 points per game will not alone guarantee success. Georgetown will need senior forward Tia Magee, the team’s top rebounder and second leading scorer with 11.9 points per game, to continue her recent run of excellence. A versatile threat from the post and the wing, Magee has been vital to the Blue and Gray’s recent successes, recording 17 second-half points against West Virginia and 21 points versus Rutgers.

Georgetown looks to continue its winning ways as it travels to face lowly Cincinnati (11-11, 2-7 Big East) Saturday before next Wednesday’s home date with conference bottom-dweller Seton Hall (7-16, 0-9 Big East).