INDIANAPOLIS – The Georgetown women's basketball team used a dominating performance to defeat the Butler University Bulldogs (20-8, 10-7 BIG EAST) 72-42 Friday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse.  With the victory, the Hoyas improve to 14-14 overall and 8-9 in league play with one game remaining.
 
"We came out razor sharp, our focus was there and we were aggressive on defense from the get go," said Georgetown Head Coach James Howard.  "They paid attention to the scouting report and we did that for 40 minutes. When we play with that type of effort and emotion, we can win any game and when our top three scorers are on and we're defending, we're difficult to beat."
 
A trio of Hoyas were in double figures as senior guard Dionna White (Baltimore, Md. / Milford Mill) led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double.  She also posted five assists and three steals.  Graduate student Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown / Virginia) added 14 points going 4 for 7 from beyond the arc.  Graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako (Midlothian, Va. / Cosby) managed 11 points and nine rebounds to go along with four steals and three assists.  Junior guard Morgan Smith (Upper Marlboro, Md. / Riverdale Baptist) had a solid performance with eight points and nine rebounds in the contest.
 
Georgetown outrebounded Butler 43-34, and forced 24 Bulldog turnovers on 16 steals.  The Blue & Gray shot 44.8 percent (26 for 58) in the game and allowed the Bulldogs 29.4 percent (15 for 51) shooting from the field.   
 
Butler scored first, but the Hoyas came back on some big shots from Venson to tie the game at seven.  Following a huge block from junior forward Anita Kelava (Zagreb, Croatia / Croatian National Team / Maine) GU found a bucket on another defensive stop as White looked up the court and found Smith for the layup to make it 9-7. 
 
With the score tied at nine, Georgetown would stage an 8-2 run on a pair of treys from White and Venson to make it 17-11 at the end of the first period as the Blue & Gray was rolling.
 
The Hoyas opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run as White managed a steal and a three-point play, another steal led to an Adomako layup and then White faked her defender to go in for the layup.  The sequence forced Butler to call timeout to regroup as GU led 24-11.  Butler answered with a pair of buckets after more than five scoreless minutes.  White came right back sinking a 3-pointer, but the Bulldogs matched on the other end.
 
The tandem of White and Venson continued to score and the Hoya defense put on a clinic limiting the Bulldogs on almost every possession.  At the end of the stanza, Georgetown went into the break leading 32-18.  The defense limited Butler to just seven points in the second quarter and built the significant lead.
 
It was much of the same in the third as the defense made stops and the Hoyas were clicking on offense.  White continued to hit and Adomako got into the act taking It to the rack.  It was a 14-4 run to begin the second half and Venson capped it off with her fourth 3-pointer of the contest forcing a Butler timeout.
 
Georgetown was firing on all cylinders and Butler was beginning to tire but late in the half the Bulldogs regrouped and scored back-to-back buckets to force a Hoya timeout.  The Blue & Gray came up with stops out of the break to lead 55-30 at the end of the third quarter.  Butler would never find an answer as the coaching staff rotated in different lineups and Georgetown stayed on top making the final 72-42. 
 
The Hoyas will close out the regular season on Sunday as the squad travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to battle the Xavier University Musketeers at 2 p.m. at the Cintas Center.  Sunday's contest will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) and live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
 
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