WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University women's basketball team will host the Sacred Heart University Pioneers at McDonough Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The Hoyas are currently 16-15 on the season and finished with a 9-9 record in the BIG EAST Conference, earning the No. 4 seed at the 2019 BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament and advancing to the semifinals for the second-consecutive season.
This marks Georgetown's fourth-consecutive postseason berth, and the second under Head Coach
James Howard. The furthest the Hoyas have gone is the WNIT quarterfinals before falling to Boston College 65-56 in 2009. Overall, this is the ninth appearance in the WNIT for the Blue & Gray, and the program is 5-8 all-time in the postseason tournament. Georgetown's last NCAA berth was a trip to the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2012.
The Hoyas had an outstanding end to the regular season as the squad went 5-1 in its final six games. The Blue & Gray defeated fifth-seeded Villanova in the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinals after earning a first-round bye. The Hoyas defeated the Wildcats 76-67 to advance to the semifinals before falling to nationally-ranked Marquette.
GU has three players averaging double digits as All-BIG EAST honorees
Dorothy Adomako (Midlothian, Va. / Cosby) and
Dionna White (Baltimore, Md. / Milford Mill) lead the team with 16.5 and 16.4 ppg, respectively. Graduate student
Mikayla Venson (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown / Virginia) is third with 10.6 ppg. Adomako and White are averaging 7.9 and 7.5 rpg to rank first and second on the squad, White has a team-best 102 assists on the season as well as 87 steals, and Venson has 74 helpers to her credit. Adomako leads GU with 49 blocks, while junior forward
Anita Kelava (Zagreb, Croatia / Croatian National Team / Maine) also has 46 blocks to her credit.
Sacred Heart went 19-12 on the season winning six of its last seven games of the year. The squad earned the second seed in the Northeast Conference Tournament and advanced to the semifinals before falling 68-60 to Saint Francis University. The team tied a league record with four players earning all-conference honors.
The Hoyas are 3-0 all-time against the Pioneers and have never met in the postseason. Georgetown is 2-0 at home with a 90-63 victory during the 2012-13 campaign as well as an 82-55 win in 1999. The most recent matchup came in the preseason WNIT at McDonough Arena in 2012. The lone road meeting was a 70-52 Hoya victory in 2000.
Georgetown is one of seven BIG EAST teams participating in postseason play. Butler, Providence, Seton Hall and Villanova will join the Hoyas in the WNIT while DePaul and Marquette earned spots in the NCAA Tournament.
Tickets for the game can be purchased through Georgetown's Athletic Ticket Office or at the gate. Live stats and a webcast featuring Monika Moore will be available at
www.GUHoyas.com.
The winner of Friday's game will then face the winner of Harvard and Drexel.
