There’s no such thing as an ugly win, but the Hoyas were content to be up by 15 when the final buzzer sounded on Friday night. Once again, Georgetown started off slow, stumbling on offense before finally knocking out its opponent.

Georgetown (2-1) took out American 67-52 in McDonough Gymnasium. The Hoyas outscored the Eagles 35-23 in the second half thanks to a 1-2-2 zone that held American to 8-of-27 shooting in the second frame.

“We made this game a little bit harder than it could’ve, should’ve, would’ve been,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “And that was us. We didn’t rebound, we didn’t defend and we didn’t make layups. It’s kind of hard to win when you don’t do those things.”

Georgetown didn’t do those things in the first half and looked lackadaisical on offense. Sophomore guard Kenya Kirkland appeared uncomfortable taking shots, and senior center Aminata Diop could not find a rhythm in the paint, fumbling two entry passes.

Seniors forward Kieraah Marlow and guard Brina Pollack were their usual selves, pitching in 17 and 12 points respectively, with six players scoring at least four points.

Georgetown missed several shots from within the paint in the first half while American hit its open shots to stay close, despite the Hoyas’ advantage inside the paint with Marlow driving to the basket and through defenders on most possessions. Marlow had 10 points in the first half and hit 2-of-3 from the free-throw line.

“We got some shots and made them. I don’t think we did anything special in the first half – it was just basic execution stuff,” American Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. “We were hoping to out-execute them and find our kinds of shots in the right places.”

American did manage to out-execute a sloppy Georgetown team – until the start of the second half.

“We knew we had to come out strong in the second half,” Marlow said. “Whoever won those first three minutes was going to win the game.”

Similar to their first two games, the Hoyas rushed their offensive sets at the start and defended poorly. Eagles junior guard Talicia Jackson hit two free throws with eight seconds to cut into Georgetown’s lead, and the Eagles looked to end the first half down just one point before senior guard Brina Pollack drove the length of the court to score with one second left.

“Then in the second half, we got them to slow down a little bit and clean up a little bit on the mistakes we’ve been making,” Williams-Flournoy said.

Diop was plagued by foul trouble again, picking up her fourth foul just four minutes into the second half, forcing Williams-Flournoy to look to junior forward Krystle Hatton to bolster the Hoyas inside. While Marlow had a significant size and skill advantage inside, the addition of Hatton proved too much for the Eagles to handle.

Hatton pulled down nine rebounds and scored five points in just 11 minutes. The aggressive spark she provided – picking up three fouls in those 11 minutes – pushed Georgetown over the edge and forced American off the ball inside.

“We knew we had to rebound with [Georgetown], and we did that in the first half and we didn’t do that in the second half,” McFerrin said.

While Hatton did not officially record any blocks, she altered several shots and doled out two hard fouls to American shooters in the paint, and her presence contributed to American getting just two second-chance baskets in the half.

“Krystle did what she’s supposed to do,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Everybody’s got a role on the team, and Krystle knows when she comes in, she has to rebound and defend, and that’s what she did. She got in and got some rebounds that we weren’t getting before.”

Georgetown plays host to Navy tonight at 7:30 p.m. Last year’s game against the service academy was a sloppy affair – Georgetown led 17-16 at halftime, but while Navy made only 20 percent of its shots in the game, Georgetown went 5-of-28 in the first half including 2-of-22 on two pointers to finish 51-34.

News and Notes . Pollack and Marlow have scored 12 and 17 points, respectively, in every game this season . Marlow leads the team in rebounding with 6.7 per game . Georgetown has won seven in a row against American . Georgetown’s opponents have only hit 54.2 percent of free throws this season . The two teams were a combined 8-of-35 from beyond the arc and 27-of-40 from the charity stripe.