Georgetown Cruises Past West Virginia

Katie Thomas/The Hoya Senior guards Katie Smrcka-Duffy and Porshia Jones helped pave the way to an 88-64 Hoya win over the Mountaineers. Georgetown women’s basketball team cruised past West Virginia 88-64 on a strong team effort Wednesday at McDonough Gymnasium. All 11 Georgetown players who suited up for the game hit at least one field goal, the last one being sophomore guard Zekeera Belton’s layup with 1:19 left in the game. Solid shooting and quality production off the bench were keys to the Hoyas’ third consecutive Big East victory.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we got some good shots against their zone and people did some good things off the bench,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said.

Freshman forward Rebekkah Brunson, who last week was named Big East Rookie of the Week for the second straight time, continued her campaign with her seventh double-double of the season. Brunson finished the game with a team-high 23 points on a phenomenal 10 of 11 shooting from the field and 14 rebounds.

“We just kept our intensity up throughout the game and we just played our game,” Brunson said.

After the Mountaineers took an early 6-2 lead, the Hoyas pulled ahead and never looked back. They went on a four-minute 15-1 run in which Brunson scored eight points. A Brunson layup off a pass from senior forward Natalie Bourdereau iced the run and gave Georgetown a 17 -7 lead with 13:14 remaining.

Later in the half, the Hoyas received a significant boost off the bench from sophomore forward Santia Jackson. With 6:52 left, Jackson went on a scoring tear, hitting four consecutive shots from 15 feet away. Her eight points helped keep West Virginia in check, as the Mountaineers made two three-pointers during her hot streak.

“Tia Jackson played very well off the bench,” Knapp said.

Jackson’s production is essential now with the loss of sophomore center Suzy Bendegue, who suffered a shoulder injury during practice last week and will have to undergo season-ending surgery.

With 2:56 to go in the half, the Mountaineers shaved the lead to seven, 32-25, but that was as close as they got for the rest of the game.

The Hoyas shot well in the first half, hitting 58 percent of their shots from the field. Both Brunson and Jackson scored 10 points, while Bourdereau contributed seven.

Meanwhile, the Mountaineers shot a paltry 30 percent from the field, and an equally poor 41 percent from the charity stripe.

With a 41-28 lead at halftime, Georgetown did not let up. Sophomore forward Zsuzanna Horvath hit two consecutive jumpers to open the second half, extending her team’s lead to 45-28. Sophomore guard Lesley Walker’s three-pointer at the 11:38 mark stretched their lead to 61-41. Her shot was one of seven three-pointers that Georgetown connected on in the second half. Walker and senior guard Katie Smrcka-Duffy each had two three-point baskets while Bourdereau, sophomore guard Joi Irby and senior guard Dani Ilic each contributed one. Smrcka-Duffy and Irby hit three consecutive three-pointers between the two of them in a span of three minutes to make the score 83-57 with 3:05 left.

After Irby’s three, only two players had yet to score in the game, and Knapp rested all of his starters. Ilic hit her three-pointer at the 1:59 mark, which left Belton as the only one who hadn’t scored. However, with 1:19 left, the 5-foot-5 Belton drove from the top of the key and put in layup between two defenders while getting fouled in the process, sending the Georgetown bench to its feet.

Aside from Brunson, Bourdereau had 12 points for the game and Smrcka-Duffy had 11, while Walker came two points shy of her second straight double-double, finishing with eight points and 10 assists.

While the Hoyas clearly dominated the game, they were sloppy at times on defense, committing 20 fouls.

“What we’re concerned about is fouls,” Knapp said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. We have many more personal fouls.”

Georgetown (13-7, 5-4) travels to Miami Saturday before taking on No. 24 Villanova next Wednesday.

“We are taking it one game at a time in which the games are all big,” Knapp said. “We’ve got a good rivalry with Miami and it should be a very physical and active game.”