GU Tops St. John’s
By Stephen Owens Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown women’s basketball team extended their winning streak to three games by putting together a dramatic second half comeback to defeat St. John’s, 60-54, in cDonough Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Hoyas’ current winning streak comes in the wake of a four-game losing streak against a quartet of nationally ranked opponents over the holiday season. Saturday’s win boosts the Hoyas’ overall record to 10-7 and shuffles them into sixth place in the Big East conference with a 3-3 mark, just half a game behind fifth place Providence.
Playing without two key players, including leading scorer Katie Smrcka-Duffy, who ranks second in the Big East with 17 points per game, the Hoyas were unable to dominate the Red Storm as they did throughout their first meeting this season, which the Hoyas won 62-51.
“Anytime you lose a key player, it hurts,” Head Coach Pat Knapp said. “But your team has to step up, and I felt our team would step up.”
“A lot of people don’t think we can play without [Smrcka-Duffy],” added junior guard Porshia Jones, who replaced Smrcka-Duffy in the starting line-up. “We can play without her and we wanted to prove to everyone that we can win without her.”
The Red Storm took advantage of the absence of the Hoyas’ most valuable player throughout much of the game and led by as many as 12 early in the second half. After a 12-0 run by the Hoyas tied the game at 39, the Red Storm answered with a 10-0 run of their own and still led by eight with only four minutes remaining.
Yet just as Knapp anticipated, his team stepped up in the final minutes of the game, holding the Red Storm scoreless for the final four and a half minutes save, for a meaningless three-pointer by St. John’s Ana Pericic as time expired. In the meantime, the Hoyas rattled over 17 unanswered points, transforming an eight point deficit into a nine point lead in a four minute span.
After a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Lesley Walker began the Hoyas’ game winning surge, she and Jones converted three steals into six points in a matter of seconds. Twice in a 40 second span, Jones stole the ball off the inbound pass from St. John’s and immediately scored. Her second steal-lay-up combo gave the Hoyas the lead for good with just over two minutes remaining.
Coming through in the clutch was nothing new for Jones lately, as the game against St. John’s marked the third game in a row her heroics led to a GU win. Against Florida International Jan. 14th, Jones sank two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining to give the Hoyas a one-point win, while against Miami five days later, her three-pointer with under five minutes remaining gave the Hoyas the lead for good.
“I just want to win,” Jones said of her recent late-game efforts.
Junior tri-captain Natalie Bourdereau kept the Hoyas within striking distance when it looked as though St. John’s would pull away. Bourdereau shot 9-for-14 and led the Hoyas with 18 points, her season high. Walker finished close behind with 15 points and freshman guard Nok Duany was the third Hoya to reach double digits in scoring with 10 points. Junior forward Dani Ilic led the Hoyas on the boards with nine rebounds, destroying her previous career high of six.
Because of the void left by Smrcka-Duffy and freshman Santia Jackson, who was also sidelined due to injury, Bourdereau, Ilic, Jones and Duany each logged at least 30 minutes of playing time, and Walker played the entire game. Yet at the end of the game, when one might expect fatigue to finally set in, this core put together their amazing 17-point run.
“You get tired when you’re losing,” said Bourdereau. “When you’re starting to win, you don’t remember that you’re tired. You don’t want to be sitting on the bench.”
The Hoyas’ winning streak began in Florida Jan. 14th against Florida International with a 55-54 win. Georgetown capped off a late five-point comeback with a pair of free throws by Jones in the final seconds of the game.
Smrcka-Duffy led the Hoyas with 13 points and six boards. Freshman center Suzy Bendegue blocked a career high five shots, all in the first half.
Florida International’s Silvia Mesa led all scorers with 15 points.
Five days later, the Hoyas knocked off another team from Florida, defeating conference foe Miami 63-61, coming from behind yet again to disappoint the Hurricanes in front of their home crowd. Smrcka-Duffy led the offensive charge for the Hoyas for the 13th time this season with 16 points. Bourdereau and Jones also added 10 points each while Duany came down with 10 rebounds.
Freshman Alicia Hartlaub led the Hurricanes with 16 points and 10 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season.
“I think we’re poised at the end of games,” Knapp said of his team’s ability to win in the final minutes of the game, “I think we’re calming down.”
Georgetown looks to continue its winning streak on the road as they head to Morgantown to battle Big East opponent West Virginia, one of two remaining winless teams in the Big East with an 0-6 conference record. The quality of opponents then changes drastically for the Hoyas as they travel to South Bend, Ind., Saturday to visit fifth-ranked Notre Dame, who is 6-0 in conference play. Last month, the Fighting Irish prevailed 80-62 over the Hoyas at McDonough Gymnasium.
