Lady ‘Cats survive late Georgetown surge to win 60-58

The Villanova women’s basketball team continues to try and prove to be a relentless force in the Big East, after losses were handed to them by Creighton and Butler.

They’ve now won back-to-back games, beating Xavier in lopsided fashion and on Wednesday night, Georgetown. The Lady Cats’ continued to prove they were on a mission in chasing after the Big East title after triumphing over their rivals, the Georgetown Hoyas, 60-58.

The Wildcats were able to hold off a late Georgetown comeback, after taking a comfortable second half lead. They were ahead by double figures, until the Hoyas cut it down to an eight-point game going into the fourth.

The Hoyas made it a game again after opening up the quarter with back-to-back threes. With 4:18 left on the clock, Georgetown’s Dionna White started to orchestrate a Hoya comeback. White made three layups within the final two minutes of the game, in addition to putting up crucial free-throw shots. She finished the game with a game-high 19 points, adding four rebounds and a pair of assists. She did most of the work on Wednesday for the Hoyas.

Despite this late streak, the Wildcats were able to stay firm and hold on for the win. It was a far cry from how they started the game so free-flowing and well on the court. The Lady ‘Cats picked up speed in the second quarter as they began to move the ball well, while building a 30-21 lead by the end of the half.

‘Nova opened the third quarter pushing its lead to double digits after an Adrianna Hahn three that was assisted by Jannah Tucker. Tucker proved to work through her injury tonight. Once a top 20 recruit coming out of high school, her journey since has had an unfortunate share of injuries. She ultimately left Tennessee to come to Villanova and while there was a bit of a scare against Xavier, she did well. Tucker put up eight points behind leading scorers Hahn and Kelly Jekot.

Hahn led the way with 17 points off 6-of-10 shooting. Jekot added 14 points and five rebounds to the winning effort.

As for Georgetown, sharpshooter Mikayla Venson was held to just eight points and four assists. Morgan Smithalso had eight points.

Villanova head coach Harry Perretta has stressed the importance of taking good shots and moving the ball this season, and the way the Lady ‘Cats played today further proved such progression. They assisted on 17-of-23 baskets. They also out-shot Georgetown, convering on 43.4 percent of their shots--to Georgetown’s 40 percent.

The Lady ‘Cats improve to 3-2 in the Big East, knocking the Hoyas down to 2-3. They are now 13-2 overall as they will travel to Seton Hall in just two days to take on the Pirates at 7 p.m. in South Orange, New Jersey.