The Colonial women continued their slide against less talented teams with a 69-53 home loss to Georgetown Wednesday night. Following a week of games against top 10 teams, GW was supposed to use this week to bounce back. Instead, they’ve slipped to No. 24 in ESPN/USA Today rankings and dropped out of the Associated Press rankings.
“There’s no excuse,” said head coach Joe McKeown, standing at the podium during his post-game conference. He normally sits. “It’s something we have to address and get worked out very quickly.”
GW’s first-half performance was perhaps its worst all season. The Colonials (2-4) shot 22 percent from the field, making it difficult to catch the Hoyas (5-1), who had jumped out to an early 8-0 lead. GW’s starting five combined for just 12 points, with Erica Lawrence going 1-for-6 from the field and Cathy Joens going 0-for-6. The Colonials were 0-for-10 from three-point range. Lindsey Davidson added only one point off the bench, a foul shot. Davidson went 0-for-4 from the field.
“It’s frustrating. We looked out of sync tonight,” McKeown said. “We dug ourselves a big hole.”
Coming back from a 39-22 half-time deficit, the Colonials pulled within 10 in the second. But four Hoya steals quickly stopped the comeback.
Local player Rebekkah Brunson lit it up at the free throw line for the Hoyas. She had 29 points, 19 on free throws. Brunson entered the game shooting only 60 percent from the line but shot 95 percent.
“When I noticed they were going to hit me, I kept going into the basket,” Brunson said.
Georgetown knew it would have to incorporate quick ball movement against GW, a strong defensive team. Its strategy worked, and three of Georgetown’s players scored more than 15 points.
Georgetown freshman guard Mary Lisicky added 21 points, hitting five three-pointers and going 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Senior guard Lesley Walker also added 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting, while going 5-for-6 from the three-point line.
The Colonials were without senior forward Elena Vishniakova, who was sidelined with a back injury. McKeown said he hopes she will be return in time for Sunday’s game against DePaul University.
Ugo Oha’s early fouls were a problem inside for GW. Oha racked up three fouls in the first 11 minutes of play, and played only nine minutes of the first half. Oha finished with four fouls, but only eight points, three rebounds and no blocks, playing 15 minutes in the second half.
Valerie Williams stepped up, starting in place of Vishniakova and picking up the brunt of the low-post work left by Oha’s absence. She was the leading scorer heading into halftime, with eight points and two rebounds. GW’s next highest scorer at the half was freshman guard Greeba Outen Barlow, who added five points in nine minutes off the bench.
“Georgetown beat us; there’s no excuse,” McKeown said. “We couldn’t play much worse, just have to go back to the drawing board.”
