Dec. 28, 2011
HANOVER, N.H. - The No. 15/16 Georgetown University women's basketball squad will head to New Hampshire before the New Year to play two games at the Blue Sky Classic in Hanover, N.H., hosted by Dartmouth University.
The Hoyas will play a pair of games opening with the University of Vermont Catamounts on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET at Leede Arena. The following day, the Blue & Gray will face the host Big Green at 7 p.m. Dartmouth will face LaSalle University in the second game on Thursday evening.
Georgetown enters Thursday's matchup on a nine-game win streak. The Hoyas defeated then-No. 7/7 Miami, 71-46, last Wednesday to improve to 10-2 overall. These two games will be GU's final nonconference matchups of the season. Earlier in the month, the Blue & Gray downed the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, 82-54, in its first BIG EAST game of the season to move to 1-0 in conference play.
Junior guard Sugar Rodgers (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) collected her second BIG EAST Player of the Week honor on Monday. It was her second weekly award of the season after spending two-consecutive weeks on the BIG EAST Honor Roll. She is the only player so far this season to earn two player of the week honors.
In a victory against Miami, Rodgers led the Hoyas with 24 points. She grabbed seven rebounds and went 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Rodgers made seven field goals, three of which were from 3-point range.
Rodgers has led the Hoyas in points in eight of 12 games so far this season with a high of 28 points in the win over Pitt. She is averaging 17.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 2.3 steals per game. She also shoots a team-high 87.0 percent from the free throw line.
Senior forward Tia Magee (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) is second on the squad with 11.9 ppg and a squad-best 6.9 rpg. Senior point guard Rubylee Wright (Latta, S.C./Latta) is averaging 6.8 ppg, while freshman Taylor Brown (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara) is averaging 6.7 ppg to round out the top four. Wright also leads the Georgetown squad with 56 assists.
The Catamounts are 6-5 on the year and closing out an eight-game road trip. In their last game, Vermont fell to another BIG EAST opponent in Marquette, 71-60. Junior forward Lauren Buschmann led the way with 21 points, while freshman forward Kayla Burchill added 12. Junior guard Shanai Heber had a team-high eight boards. Buschmann is leading the squad with 14.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg. Heber is also averaging 7.5 rpg on the season.
Georgetown is 2-0 all-time against Vermont with the last meeting coming during the 1994 season. In that meeting, GU won, 93-69, on the road. The previous meeting was at McDonough Arena on December 6, 1993 which the Hoyas won, 92-55. Georgetown Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy was an assistant for the Blue & Gray in both contests.
Dartmouth is 2-8 on the season most recently falling, 80-39, at the University of California-Berkeley before the holidays. The Big Green are led by junior guard Faziah Steen who is averaging 14.6 ppg and freshman center Tia Dawson who has 6.4 ppg and a team-high 6.2 rpg to her credit.
Georgetown is 1-0 all-time against Dartmouth after defeating them, 81-71, during the 1979-80 season.
Tipoff against Vermont is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. Friday's game will be at 7 p.m. ET. Live stats and a webcast will be available for both games at www.GUHoyas.com.
