While the Big East men’s basketball season has been rife with parity and upsets, the Big East women’s basketball season has been anything but – entering Saturday, the top five teams were a combined 32-4 while the bottom five were a miserable 6-31. The top-heavy nature of the women’s league made 13th-place Georgetown’s 78-71 upset of fifth-place Syracuse, the 22nd ranked team in the nation, all the more surprising. It was the Hoyas first win over a ranked foe in over four years, and the first under Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. When reminded of that fact, Williams-Flournoy quickly retorted, “And it feels damn good!” Williams-Flournoy added: “Our kids just refused to lose tonight.” Georgetown led for much of the game Saturday afternoon at McDonough Gymnasium, but the Orange seemed to be on the verge of taking control of the game at several points. The Hoyas got key contributions off of the bench and sunk five free throws in the final minute to ice the win. Georgetown (12-9) is now 2-6 in the Big East, 12th in the conference, while Syracuse (17-4) drops to 5-3 in league play. The Hoyas appeared to have more energy to start the contest, building a lead by attacking the defensive glass, securing loose balls, and forcing turnovers. Georgetown outrebounded Syracuse 20-17 and had nine points off of turnovers to the Orange’s two in the first half. Led by sophomore point guard Shanice Fuller (16 points, seven assists), who often found herself ahead of her teammates on the fast break, the Hoyas got a couple of easy baskets in transition and found themselves up by as many nine at the 7:32 mark. “Most of the time in big games we always come out down and it’s hard for us to get back,” Fuller said. “But Coach always tells us the first four minutes are important, and that’s what we did – we came out played hard and didn’t let up.” Senior forward Kieraah Marlow, coming off of the bench for just the second game this year, scored nine and had five rebounds in the half. Marlow finished with a game-high 19 points and seven boards. The Orange made a run to close out the first half, and with the score tied at 29 heading into the break, Syracuse looked poised to carry momentum into the second half. Entering the second half, Syracuse put on a three-quarters court press that fell back into a 3-2 zone. The defensive switch, coupled with the Hoyas hitting three of their first four three-point attempts, gave the home team a 49-42 lead at the 11:54 mark. But the tide again seemed to turn in the visitor’s favor 30 seconds later when Georgetown could not secure a rebound on a missed Syracuse free throw and senior forward Fantasia Goodwin converted on a three-point play off of the rebound. A minute later at the 10:38 mark, Goodwin one-upped herself, converting a four-point play after hitting a three-pointer and being fouled by freshman forward Monica McNutt. With the Hoyas’ lead at just three with 3:17 remaining, Fuller hit a three-pointer – her second of the game but just her seventh of the season. After junior guard Chandrea Jones answered with a triple of her own, Fuller drove to the basket and hit a tough layup to push the lead up to five. Both teams improved their shooting from the field in the second frame – the Orange shot 50 percent from the field after posting a 33.3 mark in the first, while the Hoyas improved from 40.7 percent to a 58.3 percent clip. “[The Hoyas] did a really good job of scoring the basketball,” Syracuse Head Coach Quentin Hillsman said after the game. “It was a well played game, and Georgetown just made more plays than we made today.” Georgetown also played well on the defensive end, stealing the ball 10 times and forcing 14 turnovers, and the Hoyas converted 22 points off of turnovers for the game. The Hoyas’ ball handling was steadier then the Orange – after turning the ball over 25 times in their previous game against Marquette, Georgetown handled the ball well, committing just 11 turnovers and registering 18 assists on 25 field goals. “The other day in practice, I just got on them and said, `when are we going to stop making the same mistakes, because it’s the same mistakes that are keeping us from winning,'” Williams-Flournoy said. “I think they really thought about it and came out today determined.” cNutt made her second start of the season after a career-high 21 points against Marquette last Wednesday night and finished with 13 points Saturday. Next up for the Hoyas is a home tilt against St. John’s tomorrow night in McDonough Gymnasium. The Red Storm (12-9) is 3-5 in league play and coming off of a win over Marquette. Georgetown is 8-2 at home this season, and earned its only conference win of the season at McDonough with a 57-56 victory over Seton Hall on Jan. 22. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Said Marlow: “We have a lot of confidence right now, and I think this will be a turning point for our team.”