HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Georgetown University women's basketball team ended its season at James Madison University in a 54-44 loss on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). With the loss the Hoyas complete the 2018-19 campaign with a record of 19-16 and tied the longest WNIT run in program history as GU had been in the tournament's quarterfinals just once prior.
 
"I thought it was a struggle offensively early on for our two seniors," said Georgetown Head Coach James Howard.  "We kind of fought and hung around and we made a run in the third quarter to try and get it back. Hats go off to JMU, they played hard and had some key shots. They're a solid team and what they did today was pretty good."
 
Graduate student guard Dorothy Adomako (Midlothian, Va. / Cosby) led the way with 16 points, while also adding nine rebounds.  Senior guard Dionna White (Baltimore, Md. / Milford Mill) was the other Hoya in double figures scoring 11 points to go along with four rebounds and four steals.  Junior forward Anita Kelava (Zagreb, Croatia / Croatian National Team / Maine) led the Blue & Gray on the glass with 14 rebounds as well as tallying two blocks.
 
The Hoyas shot 27 percent (18 of 66) from the field, while the Dukes managed 35 percent (20 of 57) from the field and 50 percent (7 of 14) from three.  Georgetown outrebounded JMU 46-41, and forced 13 JMU turnovers on eight steals.
 
The Dukes jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before Adomako made a layup to put the Hoyas on the board.  JMU staged a 7-0 run to make it 12-2 midway through the first half.  GU would come roaring back, however, as Kelava made a jumper and then freshman guard Nikola Kovacikova (Levice, Slovakia / Slovakian National Team) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.
 
A jumper from Adomako tied the game at 12 early in the second stanza before an 11-0 run spanning much of the quarter put the Dukes on top 23-12.  Adomako again slowed the momentum, but James Madison answered with a layup to hold the 11-point advantage.  Georgetown ended the half with a 3-0 run to make it 25-17 in favor of the Dukes at the break.
 
The Dukes went up by as much as 13 early in the third quarter before four quick points from Kelava and White cut the lead to nine.  JMU came right back to make it 34-23 but junior guard Morgan Smith (Upper Marlboro, Md. / Riverdale Baptist) began a 7-2 run as Adomako capped it off with a trey making it a six-point game 36-30 with 1:41 remaining in the third.
 
James Madison would answer back with four quick points but White knocked down a jumper and Adomako sank a triple with 10 seconds left to make it 39-35 at the end of the third quarter.
 
The momentum changed again at the beginning of the fourth as JMU made two quick points.  A free throw from Smith wasn't enough to slow the run as the Dukes began the fourth on a 13-1 run before Georgetown was forced to call timeout.  JMU came out of the break with another jumper as the Hoyas fought to get back in the game. 
 
Looking at an 18-point deficit with 5:30 remaining, Georgetown put together an 8-0 run.  Despite the effort, it was not enough as GU fell 54-44.
 
Georgetown ends the season with a mark of 19-16 overall going 9-9 in BIG EAST play and winning eight of its final 10 games. The team made history advancing to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals for the second-consecutive year, and made it to the WNIT quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.
 
"We came together before the BIG EAST Tournament and started to play well as a team and started to believe we could play well together and that really helped us in our run," said Howard.  "These young women right here fought and we appreciate that as a university and as a staff."