UNCASVILLE, Conn. – The Georgetown University women's basketball team used a big first quarter and held on to defeat the St. John's University Red Storm 53-44 on Saturday evening in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament presented by JEEP at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The sixth-seeded Hoyas now advance to the semifinals where they will face second-seeded Creighton on Sunday at 5 p.m. With the win, the Hoyas improve to 21-10 on the year, while the Red Storm drops to 17-14 for the season.  

Interim Head Coach Darnell Haney

• "Thank you, you guys, so much for staying here to talk to us and to talk to this young woman because she was amazing tonight … She just did a great job for us. I'm proud of her, and I'm proud of all of our players. I think one of the biggest things that we harp on every single day is making sure we lock in on our defensive principles and the defensive game plan. We wanted to make sure that we kind of took St. John's out of the things they wanted to do. They have a really good player in Drake and another really good player in Archer. We wanted to make sure everything was tough for them, and I think our group kind of flustered them a little bit and we were able to get the win. I'm happy for us, but it's tournament time, man, so it's next day, next play."

How it Happened

• The first quarter belonged to the Hoyas as Georgetown came out on a 10-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from junior Brianna Scott.
• St. John's answered with five quick points, but the Hoya defense and the play of graduate student Mya Bembry kept coming up with stops allowing the Blue & Gray to close out the quarter on a 6-2 run to make it 17-7 at the end of the first.
• Both teams struggled to score in the second quarter as the Hoyas cooled off.
• Jumpers from Bembry and sophomore Victoria Rivera put the lead at 13 on two occasions, but SJU ended the half with four points to make it 25-16 going into the locker room.
• St. John's began the second half with an 8-2 run to cut the Hoya advantage to three, 27-24.
• The Hoyas continued to battle, and got the stops to maintain the lead. At the end of the third quarter, Georgetown led 35-30.
• Georgetown bookended the contest with a big fourth period building the advantage to as much as 13 on a triple from Rivera.
• The Hoya defense was locked in and SJU struggled to get anything going as Georgetown cruised to the 53-44 victory.

Of Note

• The Hoyas were led by graduate student Graceann Bennett who had 16 points as well as seven rebounds in the victory.
• Senior Kelsey Ransom scored 13 points and had five assists, while Scott pulled down a squad-high eight boards.
• The Blue & Gray shot 46.9% (23-49) from the field, and Georgetown allowed just 36.6% (15-41) shooting by the Red Storm.
• GU outrebounded SJU 31-19, and Georgetown forced 15 St. John's turnovers on five steals.
• Jillian Archer led the Red Storm with 16 points, while Unique Drake added 10.
• The Hoyas have now held St. John's to its two lowest scores of the season with 44 and 43, respectively. 
• Georgetown's last trip to the BIG EAST semifinals was in 2019, GU has never appeared in a championship game.

Up Next

• The Hoyas will face second-seeded Creighton in the semifinals of the tournament on Sunday at 5 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast live on FS1 with John Fanta and Kim Adams calling the action.
• Live stats will be available at GUHoyas.com.