Against No. 23 Marquette (20-4, 8-3 Big East), Georgetown (12-13, 2-10) couldn’t buck the trend, holding on to a lead late into the first half before running out of gas. The Golden Eagles took advantage of poor Georgetown shooting to take a 67-52 win Saturday at McDonough Gymnasium.

Five minutes into the half, the Hoyas took a quick 13-8 lead. Four different Georgetown players scored to build that lead. Freshman forward Meredith Cox had a three-pointer and juniors center Aminata Diop and forward Kieraah Marlow scored in the paint.

Marquette, by contrast, relied heavily on senior forward Christina Quaye, who scored the Golden Eagles’ first eight points.

But as has happened consistently this season, Georgetown could not sustain its early momentum and fell back to Earth with a pitiable offensive performance over the final 14 minutes of the first half.

Marquette found its groove when Quaye tallied a layup to make the score 18-17 in their favor with 8:45 remaining in the half. arquette closed out the half with a 13-0 run, leaving Georgetown in the dust and down 14 at the half. Georgetown’s 17 points marked its lowest first-half output since the Blue and Gray managed only 15 first-half points against Rutgers on Jan. 16.

During the scoreless drought on nearly nine minutes, Georgetown missed an astonishing 18 consecutive shots after starting the game 7-of-9.

The Hoyas made just 7-of-27 shots in the first stanza, including 1-of-10 three-point attempts. Even shooting unguarded was a problem, as the Hoyas made 2-of-4 free throws after being unable to attack the basket.

Marquette’s golden first half was orchestrated by Quaye, who scored 27 points in the game to lead all scorers. Sophomore guard Krystal Ellis had eight points, and arquette made 11-of-25 field goals despite a cold 1-of-7 spell from long range.

Despite the offensive meltdown in the first half, Georgetown came out in the second half playing consistent basketball even with its opponent. Georgetown and Marquette played to a near-tie for the second half, with Marquette taking a 36-35 advantage in second-half scoring.

Georgetown has been outscored, on average, 32-26 while barely outpacing its opponents 32-30 in the second halves of games. Last year’s squad had similar issues, being outscored by five in the first half while playing teams evenly in the second.

Marlow led second-half scoring, dropping 14 of her 17 points after halftime and leading the team with nine rebounds.

Poor rebounding contributed to Georgetown’s letting the game go early. Marquette had 22 rebounds to Georgetown’s 15 in the first half, but four of the Hoyas’ boards were team rebounds.

With another conference loss, Georgetown can ill afford more than one loss in its remaining four games. With winnable games against Syracuse (8-16, 2-9) and Providence (13-11, 3-8) coming up, Georgetown has an opportunity to finish with at least four conference wins, not to mention the edge in tiebreakers with the Orange and Friars. Interspersed between those games are tough rounds with Notre Dame (16-8, 7-4) and Pittsburgh (19-5, 7-4). A Hoya upset in one of these games and wins in the easier two would go a long way to securing one of the final two Big East championship spots.

Georgetown plays host to Syracuse Saturday at 3 p.m. in cDonough Gymnasium.