With the clock approaching one minute to play Tuesday night in McDonough Gymnasium, Georgetown’s hope of winning its first Big East game of the year looked bleak. Seton Hall held their largest lead of the night at three points, the Hoyas had gone cold from the field, and senior forward and leading scorer Kieraah Marlow had fouled out of the game. But the Hoyas (11-7, 1-4 Big East) did not waver, coming up with clutch plays on both ends of the court to score the final four points of the game and escape with a 57-56 win over the Pirates (12-5, 2-3). “It was a total team effort tonight. Everybody did something that they had to do – whether it was rebounding, play defense, whatever it was,” Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “It was a good win. . Our kids continued to fight back and got the W.” Redshirt junior guard Brina Pollack converted on a driving layup at the 1:07 mark, and an errant pass by Seton Hall set up the Hoyas’ final possession. Senior center Aminata Diop received the ball on the right block, drop stepped and banked home the game winner with 18.3 seconds remaining. With 13.8 seconds left, Seton Hall went to senior guard Ela Mukosiej, who was blanketed by sophomore guard Kenya Kirkland. Mukosiej drove to the right side off a ball screen, but several Georgetown defenders converged and forced a turnover to seal the win. “We knew we had to play man and we put our defensive stopper Kenya Kirkland in. . [S]he was not going to let [Mukosiej] score,” Williams-Flournoy said. “She made a great stop, our kids rotated properly, and we ended up with the steal.” The Hoyas controlled the game for most of the first half, heading into halftime with a nine-point lead. Georgetown shot 59.1 percent from the field in the first half and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. Seton Hall, on the other hand, stumbled into the break shooting 34.5 percent, including a 2-of-10 effort from beyond the arc. The Hoyas hit 10 of their first 14 shots, including three from Pollack. Hitting six of her 11 attempts for the game, Pollack led all scorers with 13 and broke out of a five-game slump that saw her shoot a combined 4-of-25 from the field for only 11 points. The tide began to turn in the second half, when the Pirates’ switch to zone defense cooled the Hoyas’ hot hands – Georgetown shot 9-of-25 from the field in the second stanza. “They played more zone in the second half, and at times we weren’t as patient as we should have been,” Williams-Flournoy said. “That hurt us on some offensive execution.” Seton Hall, while not shooting much better from the field in the second half, made 15 trips to the foul line and converted 13 times. Nearly half of the Pirates’ second-half points came from the charity stripe. A conventional three-point play at the 9:48 mark by Seton Hall’s sophomore forward Nicole Emery (10 points) cut the Hoyas’ lead – which was as large as 11 early in the second half – to one point. For the next six minutes, the lead changed seven times, and neither team built more than a one-point margin. The Pirates pushed their lead to three when senior forward Amber Harris split a pair of free throws at the 3:29 mark and then again with 2:35 remaining, but Seton Hall did not hit a field goal in the final four minutes of play. Joining Pollack in double figures for the Hoyas were sophomores forward Jaleesa Butler (12 points) and guard Shanice Fuller (11); but Butler and Fuller did most of their damage in the first half, registering 21 of their combined 23 points before the break. Freshman forward Monica McNutt provided a spark off the bench, tallying eight points in the second half. “Monica played very well in the second half – she hit a big three for us and got defensive rebounds,” Williams-Flournoy said. arlow, who is averaging 15.5 points per game and scored at least nine points in the first 15 games of the season, has been like night and day in her last three contests. Jan. 15 against Rutgers Marlow was held scoreless, Saturday against Notre Dame she exploded for a career-high 34 points, and Tuesday night she fouled out with just four points. “We really needed this win to set a foundation to build off of,” Butler said. “Getting this win tonight instilled more confidence in us for our next road game.” The Hoyas will carry that confidence into Morgantown, W.Va., when they face the 12th-ranked Mountaineers on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Free Throws: – Senior center Aminata Diop aggravated her sprained right knee four minutes into the game but was able to play for 17 minutes in total and did not run with a limp. – Seton Hall shot an abysmal 3-of-15 (20 percent) from three-point range. The Pirates’ worst offender from beyond the arc was junior guard Jadis Rhodin, who was 2-of-9 on three-point attempts. – The Hoyas had seven assists and 19 turnovers. Seton Hall was slightly more respectable with an assist to turnover ratio of nine to 15. – After two straight home games of over 1,000 people in attendance, only 593 people filled McDonough Gymnasium to watch the game Tuesday night. – All 16 teams in the Big East have a winning overall record, and no teams have more than eight losses. – Five teams in the Big East (Georgetown, Providence, South Florida, St. John’s and Cincinnati) have only one conference win.