Box Score

WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University women's basketball squad dominated the Xavier University Musketeers (9-13, 2-9), 65-48, in a BIG EAST Conference matchup Sunday afternoon at the Cintas Center. With the victory, the Hoyas improve to 10-11 overall and 5-6 in league play. The Hoyas have won the last three of four as the league standings have burst wide open.

"Everyone has been putting an effort in on the defensive end and that showed today," said Georgetown Head Coach James Howard. "The team is buying in and understands that our priority is first and foremost defense. I'm very proud of them, their efforts and their sense of urgency. The season is coming to an end, and we know where we are and we see that we can put ourselves in a position to get a good seed in the tournament."

Senior forward Cynthia Petke (Yaounde, Cameroon/-/Chipola College) led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. Junior guard Dionna White (Baltimore, Md./Milford Mill) and senior guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va./Yorktown/Virginia) both tallied 14 points, in addition, White managed seven rebounds and three steals.

The Hoyas outrebounded the Musketeers, 37-36, and forced 16 turnovers while committing 10. Georgetown shot 45.0 percent (27-of-60) from the field, and allowed just 31.9 percent (15-of-47) shooting from Xavier.

Belk opened the scoring for the Hoyas and Georgetown took an early 12-6 lead on six points from senior guard DiDi Burton (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore City College Prep). The Hoyas continued to build the lead as the defense forced seven Musketeer turnovers in the first quarter and GU went up by as much as nine, 15-6, at the end of the stanza.

A layup from White sparked a 7-0 run to open the second quarter as Georgetown took the 23-6 lead on a bucket from freshman forward Tatiana Thompson (Winter Haven, Fla./Winter Haven) to force a Xavier timeout. Xavier ended its drought with a free throw at the 4:51 mark. The Musketeers worked to get back into the game, but Georgetown's pressure on defense was too much as the Hoyas went into the half leading, 33-17.

It was Xavier that scored first in the second half, the Musketeers continued to look down low as the squad made it an early 5-2 run. The Hoyas regrouped on defense and began to get the offense going again as the Blue & Gray looked to pull away. Venson found her rhythm driving to the basket, and White aided the effort with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 55-27 with two minutes left in the third period. A Venson buzzer Beater made it 58-30 to end the quarter.

The Musketeers attempted a late comeback in the fourth quarter, getting as close as 21. Howard called timeout and settled the squad. Late in the game, Georgetown switched up the lineup and was able to cruise to the 65-48 victory.

The Hoyas will conclude their three-game road swing next weekend as the squad travels to Villanova University for a 1 p.m. matchup on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) with Matt Janus and DJ Sixsmith calling the action. Live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.

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