Nov. 20, 2009
Box Score
West Lafayette, Ind. - The Georgetown University women's basketball squad dropped a tough 62-59 decision to the University of Dayton Flyers (2-1) Friday evening in GU's first game of the BTI Classic hosted by Purdue University. Georgetown trailed through the first half, but solid defense in the second kept the team in the game until the final play. With the loss, the Hoyas drop to 1-2 on the season. GU will have two more games this weekend as part of the three-game tournament.
The game started slowly for the Hoyas as Dayton's size was an issue initially. Despite some early and-one's by the Flyers, Georgetown managed to keep up thanks to a patient offense and going to Jaleesa Butler (St. Louis, Mo./Alton) in the middle.
Midway through the half, Dayton took a five-point lead but the Hoyas quickly responded tying it up on a layup from Alexa Roche (Bellmore, N.Y./St. Michael's Academy) after a beautiful bounce pass from Latia Magee (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) on the break.
Georgetown continued to battle but couldn't quite take the lead until just 45 second left in the half when Shanice Fuller (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) found Magee for three with the shot clock winding down. Unfortunately, GU couldn't hold onto it as the Blue & Gray went into the break trailing 42-39.
Butler led the Hoyas with 12 points and three rebounds, while Magee and junior Monica McNutt (Suitland, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross) each had eight. Georgetown shot 51 percent in the first half and had 12 rebounds, but allowed Dayton 57 percent shooting from the field and 16 boards. The GU defense forced 10 Flyer turnovers in the first half.
The change in defensive intensity was noticeable to open the second half as the Hoyas quickly regained a slight lead and forced two turnovers before the Flyers could score. In an almost-silent arena, the only sounds were the basketball on the hardwood and the Georgetown bench chanting on defense.
A four-minute scoring drought from the Hoyas allowed Dayton to get back on top, however, outstanding defense kept it within one as the lead began to see-saw back and forth as the seconds ticked away.
At 2:02, a put-back from Magee gave Georgetown the lead and under a minute the Hoyas had possession. However, on the next trip down court Dayton managed to hit a layup. GU had an opportunity to answer but the shot wasn't on target as the Hoyas were forced to foul in the closing seconds. With one last attempt, Georgetown couldn't connect making the final 62-59.
Butler notched her first double-double of the season and led all scorers with 16 points and 13 boards. Magee added 12, Ta'Shauna "Sugar" Rodgers (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) tallied 11 and McNutt had 10 points to close out those in double digits. McNutt also had seven rebounds in the contest. The Hoyas outrebounded the Flyers 42-40 thanks to a big second half, but shot just 33 percent from the field while allowing Dayton to hit 41 percent of its shots.
GU will have little rest as the team faces Seattle University on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the second game of the tournament and then the host-Purdue on Sunday at 4 p.m. The Purdue game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
