Women's Basketball - BlueHens.com

Blue Hens Suffer Rare Setback as #11/10 Delaware Falls to Georgetown 62-56 in Pre-Season WNIT

November 11, 2012

Photos Courtesy of Saquan Stimpson

• Boxscore

NEWARK, Del. -- There was an unfamiliar feeling around the Bob Carpenter Center Sunday afternoon following the Blue Hens' 62-56 setback to Georgetown in the second round of the Pre-Season Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

Georgetown, led by a sizzling 35-point performance from All-American guard Sugar Rodgers, handed the #11/10 ranked Blue Hens their first regular season loss in nearly a year and its first setback at home in three seasons.

The Hoyas (2-0) pulled away in the final five minutes to pick up the victory as the defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Blue Hens (1-1) had an 18-game regular season win streak and 15-game home winning streak snapped.

The loss was the Hens first in the regular season since an 85-76 loss to then No. 5 Maryland on Dec. 29, 2011 and its first at home since a 69-64 loss to CAA foe James Madison on Feb. 20, 2011.

"We did some things I liked, we played hard, and we followed our defensive gameplan today," said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. "But we had some fouls down the stretch that were very costly. In a game as close as this was, every little thing counts. So if you do some things you aren't supposed to, it will hurt you and it did today. This was a high intensity game with two aggressive teams that will help us in the future. We will learn from this experience."

Senior guard Lauren Carra (bottom left) led the Blue Hens with 19 points and nine rebounds while senior forward Danielle Parker (at right) contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Trumae Lucas contributed 14 points.

The Hens played their second straight game without the services of All-American Elena Delle Donne, who is day-to-day while dealing with the effects of Lyme Disease.

Rodgers' 35 points were the most ever by a visiting women's player at the 20-year old BCC, surpassing the mark of 34 by Maine's Cindy Blodgett on Jan. 2, 1996.

Jasmin Jackson was the only other Hoya player in double figures with 12 points. Andrea White and Samisha Powell each pulled a team-high seven rebounds.

Georgetown now advances to the WNIT Semifinals where the Hoyas will play the winner of Sunday night's North Carolina vs. Duquesne game.

Delaware, which opened the WNIT with a 63-31 win over Sam Houston State Friday night, now moves to the consolation bracket pod and will play this Friday at a site and opponent to be named Monday.

The aggressive nature of the game resulted in the teams combining for 42 turnovers, including 22 by the Blue Hens. Delaware shot just 17 of 47 from the field (36.2 percent) and was hurt by 14 of 25 shooting from the foul line. Georgetown hit on 20 of 50 shots (40 percent) and knocked down 18 of 23 free throws. Delaware held a slim 35-33 rebounding advantage.

Georgetown led by as much as eight points in the opening half before the Blue Hens made a late run behind the play of Carra and took a 30-28 lead into the break. Carra scored the Hens' final nine points of the half, giving the Hens their first lead at 23-22 with 3:04 left on a jumper and adding a three-pointer and two free throws in the final minute.

Delaware came out slow in the second half and didn't score its first points until Parker knocked down a jumper nearly seven minutes in. The Hoyas had scored the first seven points of the second half - all by Rodgers - to take a 35-30 lead.

Georgetown kept that lead until the 6:33 mark when Kayla Miller knocked down her second three-pointer in a span of two minutes to knot the score at 44-44. But Jackson came right back with a jumper to put the Hoyas up for good.

Delaware closed to within one point several times over the final four minutes, including a three-pointer from Carra that narrowed the deficit to 54-53 with 2:17 left.

But Rodgers answered with two free throws and added a layup with 58 seconds left to up the Georgetown lead to 58-53 and she added two more from the foul line with four seconds left to preserve the win.

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