CHICAGO – The No. 4 seed Georgetown University women's basketball team (16-15) fell 75-62 to the No. 1 Marquette University Golden Eagles (25-6) in the semifinals of the 2019 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament, presented by the Jeep at Wintrust Arena Monday afternoon. It was GU's first back-to-back semifinals appearances in program history.
 
"Marquette gave us some problems, but I really was impressed with the fight in our players," said Georgetown Head Coach James Howard.  "We went down about 20, and cut it to one in the second half before they made another run as veteran teams do. They're the 17th ranked team in the country for a reason, but I'm very proud of our young women."
 
Graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako (Midlothian, Va. / Cosby) led the way with 27 points, while also adding a team best eight rebounds as well as four assists.  Senior guard Dionna White (Baltimore, Md. / Milford Mill) was the other Hoya in double figures scoring 16 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.  Graduate student guard Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown / Virginia) chipped in nine points, and senior guard Brianna Jones (North Babylon, N.Y. / North Babylon / Louisville) added five points and seven rebounds.
 
The Hoyas shot 40.0 percent (24 of 60) from the field and hit 31.8 percent (7 of 22) from beyond the arc.  The Golden Eagles managed 39.1 percent (25 of 64) from the field and 41.4 percent (12 of 29) from three.  Georgetown was outrebounded 43-33, but forced 10 MU turnovers on six steals.
 
The Golden Eagles began the game with back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 6-0 lead, but the Hoyas answered with a 9-0 run powered by four points from White and a five from Adomako.  Marquette stopped the momentum with a trey, which sparked a 13-0 run as the Golden Eagles built the 22-12 advantage forcing a GU timeout late in the first period. The Hoyas would hold MU on the final possession and that score would stand at the end of the first quarter.
 
Marquette continued the run with seven quick points to begin the second and force another Georgetown timeout looking at a 17-point deficit.  Adomako finally ended the run with an offensive rebound and the layup, and her bucket energized the entire GU squad as the Hoyas began a 14-3 run that would span the remainder of the half.
 
Adomako began it with a layup before her and Venson sank back-to-back 3-pointers.  The defense was impressive coming up with stops, and a layup as well as a pair of free throws from Adomako helped the Hoyas turn the deficit to single digits.  White added a jumper to end the quarter on a 14-3 run as the defense held the Golden Eagles without a field goal for the final six and a half minutes of the second.  Georgetown went into the locker room trailing by just six 39-33.
 
The Hoyas were fired up to begin the second half as Adomako scored on the first possession and White added another bucket to cut the lead to two.  The teams then traded buckets before MU gained some traction on back-to-back 3-pointers.  A steal from White resulted in the and-1 for Adomako as the Blue & Gray battled to make it a one-possession game. 
 
Midway through the third quarter, Marquette would stage a small run taking the 10-point lead 52-42 and forcing a GU timeout.  The treys would keep coming for the Golden Eagles as Georgetown struggled to score and MU couldn't miss.  At the end of the third, Marquette held the 62-42 advantage.
 
Marquette would score first in the fourth to make it 66-45, but GU would not go away quietly as Venson answered with a trey.  The MU staff called timeout to slow the momentum, but it wouldn't work as a Venson triple and a pair of layups from White forced another Golden Eagle timeout with the Hoyas trailing by 11.
 
On the next possession, White managed a steal and a layup as it was a 12-0 run for the Blue & Gray.  Marquette would end the drought with a conventional three-point play and a fast break layup and the Blue & Gray would run out of time for a comeback falling 75-62.
 
The Hoyas will now await their fate in the postseason. Selection Monday is scheduled for Monday, March 18 and announcements will be on GUHoyas.com as soon as they are available.