Eagles Soar Over Georgetown

By Eric Kim • February 23, 2001

Hoya File Photo/The Hoya Rebbekah Brunson has been named Rookie of the Week six times in the 2000-2001 season. After coming back from a 14-point deficit at halftime, the Georgetown women’s basketball team could not hold onto a five-point lead in the second half as it lost 85-80 at Boston College on Wednesday night. The Eagles avenged their 70-65 loss to the Hoyas on Jan. 6 at McDonough Gymnasium despite sophomore forward Zsuzanna Horvath’s career-high 19 points for the Hoyas.

However, last Saturday, Georgetown easily got past St. John’s, 72-53, in front of a large crowd at McDonough. Senior guard Katie Smrcka-Duffy led the Hoyas with 23 points and overtook Abbie Dillon (COL ’81) for second place on Georgetown’s all-time scoring list for women.

Boston College went up 8-2 early in the first half, but Georgetown responded with two baskets from junior guard Lesley Walker to tie the game. The Hoyas were able to take a 13-10 lead, but then the Eagles soared past them with a 35-19 run. Janelle cManus had 12 of her 24 points during that run, including two three-pointers as Boston College took a 48-32 lead with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining in the first half. The Hoyas found themselves down 51-37 at the break.

Georgetown showed signs of life as it started the second half with a 19-4 run, and took back the lead at 56-55 after a Smrcka-Duffy three pointer. Senior forward Nathalie Bourdereau then connected on consecutive layups to extend the advantage to five.

But the Eagles scored eight unanswered points and took a 73-69 lead after a McManus three with 3:38 in the game. While they would go on to score only one more field goal, they iced the game by hitting eight of 12 shots from the free-throw line.

Freshman forward Rebekkah Brunson, who garnered her sixth Big East Rookie of the Week award on Monday, also had 19 points and eight rebounds. She averaged 17.3 points and 12.3 boards in three games last week and is the leading rebounder in the conference with 9.5 per game. Walker added