The Georgetown University women’s basketball team dominated Delaware State University, never allowing the Hornets to lead and kicking off a finals period doubleheader at McDonough Arena Dec. 13.
The Hoyas (7-3, 0-1 Big East) pulled away from the Hornets (3-9) in the second quarter and did not look back, en route to a 60-46 win.
Georgetown took the opening tip, and senior guard Victoria Rivera quickly drained a 3-pointer to open the scoring. Two more baskets quickly brought the score to 7-0 in the first two minutes as the Hoyas dominated Delaware State physically.
Hornets forward Kaitlyn Adams responded by fouling twice in one possession. Delaware State’s recourse to Georgetown’s size advantage all game was to foul. In the first half, the Hornets put the Hoyas at the line 12 times, while only getting to the free-throw line 4 times themselves.
When Georgetown Head Coach Darnell Haney made a platoon substitution for his second string, the Hoyas had opened up a 9-4 lead with 6:22 remaining in the first quarter.
The game continued in much the same rhythm, and Georgetown led 19-16 after the first quarter. Three-point shooting made the difference for the Hoyas early. They made 3 3-pointers in the first quarter, while the Hornets did not make a 3-pointer throughout the entire game despite 13 attempts.
Delaware opened scoring in the second quarter with a made jumper by combo guard Jermesha Frierson to cut Georgetown’s lead to 1. Junior guard Khia Miller responded with an and-1 jumper from the paint, pulling the Hoyas back ahead 22-18. The Hornets’ shooting guard Aniyah Jones and point guard Amya Scott put up a pair of layups, tying the game at 22-22.
Georgetown responded to Delaware finding their closest opportunity for a lead by going on a 9-0 run buoyed by 4 Hornets turnovers and a flagrant 1 foul on Delaware’s Scott. The Hornets picked up a layup off a Hoya turnover to end Georgetown’s stifling run. The Hoyas quickly responded with a 6-0 run before the Hornets put in a layup to end the half, pulling Georgetown ahead to a dominant 37-26 lead at the break. Throughout the second quarter, Delaware had 8 turnovers, which energized the Hoya offense.
The Hoyas switched from a full-court press defensive tactic to zone defense during the second quarter, a strategy that Haney said was meant to keep Georgetown out of foul trouble and push Delaware to attempt 3-pointers.
“We went to the zone to keep us out of foul trouble and see if they could make a couple of shots from the front, which we’ve got to do a better job rebounding,” Haney told The Hoya.
Georgetown graduate forward Brianna Scott said the switch to zone was instrumental to the team’s success throughout.
“Defense is our identity, so we want to come out and play man, but they’re a talented driving team, so going to zone was our best option,” Scott told The Hoya. “We just adjusted to that and it worked out for us.”
Coming back from the half, Georgetown picked up with the same intensity, and a Miller layup and Rivera 3-pointer saw the Hoyas ahead 42-27. The Hornets responded with a Frierson jumper and Adams layup, cutting their deficit back to 11 with five minutes left to play. Georgetown went on a 10-1 run, punctuated by one Delaware-made free throw, to pull into a 20-point lead, 52-32, to close out the third quarter. Throughout the third quarter, the Hornets struggled immensely from the field, shooting 2-13. Georgetown did not perform much better, shooting 6-17 from the field.
Delaware came out for the final quarter looking to set the pace of play and cut their losses. In the first 40 seconds, the Hornets made 4 points off a jumper and layup. The Hoyas made 3 layups throughout the quarter, all within the first 5 minutes of play.
In the last 5 minutes of the game, the Hoyas only scored 2 points, both on Hession free throws in the final seconds. Despite the late slowdown, Georgetown never was troubled for the lead and sealed the victory, 60-46.
Haney said the team is working on finishing strong after blowing two fourth-quarter leads early in the season.
“We start looking at the score and we start thinking that people are going to lay down, and we start thinking that it’s going to be easy,” Haney said. “We’ve got to make sure we capitalize, but we’ve got to also make sure we execute the Georgetown way.”
Haney also said moving to zone defense allowed the Hoyas to regain control of the game and ultimately the decisive win.
“When we go to the press and we get back and we play defense in the half court, sometimes the matchups aren’t right,” Haney said. “So we’ve got to scramble out of that and get to the right matchups. When we get to the zone, we can keep the matchups the same or we can get back and play man-to-man and we don’t have to worry about the matchups.”
The game against Delaware State marked the Hoyas’ last non-conference matchup of the season. Georgetown will return to conference play Dec. 21 on the road against Providence College (7-5, 0-2 Big East).
