WASHINGTON –  The Georgetown University women's basketball team fell to the Butler University Bulldogs (12-1, 2-0 BIG EAST) 59-50 Monday afternoon at McDonough Arena in a BIG EAST Conference matchup.  With the loss the Hoyas move to 7-6 on the season and 1-1 in league play.
 
"We went on a good run to start the game, but the consistency from one game to the next is not what we expect from our players," said Georgetown Head Coach James Howard.  "We challenged our team to make the first run in the second half, and we knew their coaches were doing the same thing in their locker room.  The defense got lost on movement in the fourth quarter and we got stagnant on offense, fatigue hurt us with rebounding.  Both teams were fighting but they made plays down the stretch that got them the win."
 
Senior guard Dionna White (Baltimore, Md. / Milford Mill) was the lone Hoya in double figures with 11 points and six rebounds to go along with four steals.  White was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week earlier in the day.  Graduate student Dorothy Adomako (Midlothian, Va. / Cosby) managed seven points, seven rebounds and an impressive seven blocks as she hit the 100 mark for her career.  Senior guard Brianna Jones (Babylon, N.Y. / North Babylon / Louisville) and graduate student Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown / Virginia) both tallied nine points to round out the top four. 
 
Georgetown was outrebounded 46-25 but forced 15 turnovers on six steals while committing just 12 turnovers on offense.  The Hoyas shot 36.0 percent (18 for 50) from the field as well as 69.2 percent (9 for 13) from the charity stripe.  The defense forced the Bulldogs into 33.9 percent (20 of 59) shooting in the contest.
 
It was end-to-end action to begin the game as the Blue & Gray turned defense into offense with a pair of steals and layups from White and Adomako to make it 7-2.  Butler would come back and regain the lead on a trey by Kristen Spolyar, but back-to-back layups from freshman Shanniah Wright (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Polytechnic Preparatory Day School) and a 3-pointer from Jones put the Hoyas ahead 14-8. 
 
Butler would answer back cutting it to two, but the Hoyas would continue to battle holding a 19-14 lead at the end of the first.
 
Georgetown would open the second with a bucket by freshman guard Nikola Kovacikova (Levice, Slovakia / UKF Nitra) as it was a balanced Hoya attack.  Venson added a trey to give the Blue & Gray the 10-point lead as the defense came up with stops on the other end of the floor.  Butler came back with an 11-0 run to take the lead 25-24, but a buck from Jones quickly moved the advantage back to the Hoyas.  The lead would go back and forth but a 7-0 run, including four points from White, made it 33-27.  The Bulldogs would score once more to make it 33-30 at the half.
 
Butler quickly made it a one-point game to begin the second half, but a three-point play from Adomako moved the score to 38-34.  The lead would swing back-and-forth throughout the third stanza as neither squad was able to pull away.  It was a defensive battle with a lot of fouls and few points for both squads as the minutes ticked away and Butler stayed on top.  A late trey by the Bulldogs and layup from sophomore center Breonna Mayfield (Landover, Md. / Good Counsel) made it 48-44 in favor of Butler to end the third quarter. 
 
The Hoya defense stood strong early on and following a pair of Butler free throws, White knocked down a 3-pointer to cut it to three 50-47.  Butler answered with a triple of its own and then added a layup to force a Blue & Gray timeout with 5:20 remaining in the contest.  Kovacikova hit a jumper out of the break, but Butler had an answer.  Georgetown would never be able to mount a comeback eventually falling 59-50.     
 
Georgetown will head out on the road for a pair of BIG EAST matchups.  The Hoyas will face Providence on Friday evening at 7 p.m. and then take on Creighton on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST.  Friday's contest be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) and Sunday will be on CBS Sports Network.    
 
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