While most Georgetown students enjoyed three weeks of relaxation at home, the world of women’s college basketball was turned on its head. The now-No.2 Connecticut Huskies lost for the first time in 90 games, and the race for the NCAA crown suddenly opened up. The No. 18 Lady Hoyas (13-4, 1-2 Big East) took advantage and improved their case for title candidacy with five consecutive wins over the break.
The Blue and Gray beat Missouri State 72-59 on Dec. 19, then kicked off winter break with a 73-52 win over Coppin State (3-10, 1-2 MEAC). Georgetown followed up that victory with a 77-37 road beatdown of Houston (11-4, 2-0 Conference USA), before returning home for a 75-54 defeat of Clemson (8-9, 1-1 ACC).
“We played well. When we were out at Houston, we turned them over a lot and were able to score a lot out in transition,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “Same thing against Coppin State. We locked down on defense a little bit, and we were able to turn people over and score easy baskets.”
Georgetown got a big boost over the break with the return to form of junior forward Tia Magee. Sidelined for the first four games of the season while recovering from an ACL injury, Magee has finally hit her stride, averaging 10.5 points per contest in the Hoyas’ six games over winter break.
“My teammates helped me out a whole lot,” Magee said of her comeback. “It was a little shaky at first, trying to get back in the feel of things, but it was a pretty smooth transition.”
Perhaps most impressively, Georgetown continued its dominance at McDonough Arena last week with a convincing 80-67 win over No. 23 Syracuse (13-3, 1-1 Big East).
“Over break we put in a lot of work — a lot of extra shooting, weightlifting, running, conditioning, building as a team,” Magee said.
Sophomore Sugar Rodgers continued her dominant play, averaging over 22 points and seven rebounds per game over the break. The star guard is second in the Big East in scoring at 19 points per game this season and was named to the John R. Wooden Award midseason top 20 — one of only three sophomores nationwide to receive the honor.
Marquette (14-3, 2-2 Big East) handed the Lady Hoyas a heartbreaking 76-73 double-overtime loss at McDonough Arena last weekend, however, bringing both their six-game overall winning streak and their 23-game home winning streak to an end.
“We just didn’t come up with key stops at key times. We had every opportunity to win that game,” senior guard Monica McNutt said. “But you’ve got to give it to Marquette — those are seniors, those girls wanted to win, and we didn’t shut it down when we were supposed to.”
The Blue and Gray were forced to play shorthanded late in the game; both Magee and Rodgers fouled out in the second overtime.
“Good teams are going to capitalize on your mistakes, and Marquette capitalized on our mistakes,” Williams-Flournoy said. “It hurt us at the end for both Sugar Rodgers and Tia Magee, who were both playing extremely well, not to be in the game for the majority of the second overtime.”
Georgetown travels to Providence tomorrow to face off against the Friars (8-7, 1-2 Big East), seeking to get back to the .500 mark in conference.
“Everything we do stems from our defense,” McNutt said. “Once we get back to defending really well and shutting teams down, you’ll see us out in transition more. The basket becomes wider, and everything starts clicking again. So right now we’re really focusing on defense.”
