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Lack of "finishing" leads to end of the road for Hoyas

March 20, 2018 - Last night Georgetown faced a talented Duquesne squad, hoping to defeat the Dukes and advance in Women's National Invitational Tournament play. Head coach James Howard's team had chances to prevail but couldn't take advantage of them, eventually falling 69-66 before nearly 300 McDonough Arena fans in Washington, DC.

The line between victory and defeat was thin.

"We left too many opportunities on the floor. From free throws (60% or less in the second half) to lay ups at the rim" lamented Howard afterward. Ultimately he opined "It came back to executing the game plan and finishing shots. If you finish, you put yourself in a position to win".

One sequence exemplified the Hoyas' travails: After being down a second half high eight points, around five and a half minutes later Georgetown trailed 65-62 with 3:23 remaining after junior guard Dionna White's jump shot. Twenty-three seconds after that senior center Yazmine Belk blocked a Duquesne shot, with the ball corralled by White, creating a prime chance for the Hoyas to continue their run.


Dionna White got by Chassidy Omogrosso on this play and scored 33 points, but it wasn't enough for G'Town.
Dionna White got by Chassidy Omogrosso on this play and scored 33 points, but it wasn't enough for G'Town. (HoyaReport.com)
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White pushed the ball, it eventually landing in the hands of sophomore guard Morgan Smith, who missed two point blank attempts. The Dukes responded by making the second of two shots, pushing their lead to five.

"We had a good look at the basket, and she missed that look" recalled Howard. "That right there it hurts, when you're trying to get back in the game, then it breaks your back when they come down and score, because that's like a four point swing right there".

The Blue and Grey's last gasp came on a Cynthia Petke miss with a second on the clock, an attempt created when White (and screen) was defended well and passed to her. The latter shared that play's design as "Either me and CP being open, catch and shoot".

G'Town shot 33.8% from the field overall and just 25% on three pointers, and was missing a number of contributors, including senior Mikayla Vinson, who went down during the team's WNIT victory over Delaware last week. White paced all scorers with 33 points and ended in a three way tie for game-best rebounder with Smith via 11 caroms secured. Senior forward Cynthia Petke logged 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Sophomore forward Eniko Kuttor was the Duke who pulled down 11 boards. Guard Julijana Vojinovic and forward Kadri-Ann Lass, both juniors, scored 19 and 14 points, respectively for Duquesne (25-7). As a unit, one which next traveals to St. John's for a Thursday WNIT tilt, Duquesne's shooting numbers read 47.3% overall, 50% from long distance.


Yet it was speedy junior guard Chassidy Omogrosso that paced the Dukes by scoring 22 points and dishing a team tops five assists. Fifteen of her points came in first half action, forcing Howard to adjust.

"She was causing us a lot of problems. so we felt like we couldn't switch out, we had to stay, trail her...Just try and run her off of stuff and try to have that post help support on curl action" he revealed. "And I thought in the second half DiDi Burton (senior point guard finishing with a game high seven assists) did a great job of (bringing) energy; with a guard like that she's constantly moving all the time, she's going to make you pay.

"We did a better job of containing her, holding her, slowing her down. But there were moments when she made big shot after big shot. Good players make good shots at times".

With the Hoyas season ending at 16-16, does Howard like where his team stands?


Yes, as he shared pride in "Their progress, learning the will to win, the will to fight. I think we fought all year. We were undermanned all year long, not having Dorothy Adamoko, starting three small guards. But our kids fought. They knocked down some records that hadn't been knocked down in years here, because of their fight.

"So I'm hoping that they learned how to push forward, and learn what winning is about. And then being able to get Dorothy Adamoko and Anita Keleva on the floor and Brianna Jones on the floor, with that recruiting class coming and...then start to get that mixture of a little bit more talent out there, I think the future is real bright.

"We're going to get back at it. We're going to develop the kids we have, and we're going to work our tales off up until next November to try and be that team".

White, who will surely be called on greatly in 2018-19, expressed "I thought we did good, always can do better" when asked to provide a retrospective of the now ended campaign. "I know it's a lot of people who didn't expect us to get as far as we did, so that's a plus. But we're going to build off of this and move forward for next year".

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