WOMEN'S BASKETBALL | Crosstown Matchup With GW on Deck

Fresh off of Wednesday night’s victory over La Salle, the Georgetown women’s basketball team (5-2) will make the short trip down M Street for a matchup with George Washington (4-2) Saturday with Washington, D.C. supremacy on the line. The Hoyas came away with a 59-50 win over the Colonials last December in the two schools’ most recent matchup.

While the women’s program often takes a backseat to the men’s on the Hilltop, star guard and senior team leader Sugar Rodgers — who scored 28 points against the Explorers — came into her senior season with high expectations, and she has certainly lived up to them so far. Named to the early season watch list for the Naismith Award, the senior from Suffolk, Va., is averaging 23.7 points and an impressive eight rebounds through the first seven games of the season to lead the squad in both categories. 

George Washington, meanwhile, has lost to both major conference opponents they have faced so far, dropping a close contest at Rutgers before getting hammered, 50-31, at Virginia Tech less than two weeks later. The Colonials have had a different leading scorer in five of their first six games during Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis’ first season at the helm, meaning that the Hoyas will be tasked with slowing down a balanced attack. 

Center Sara Mostafa is a 6-foot-5 fifth-year senior who anchors the paint for George Washington, averaging 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. After posting eight points and 10 boards against Morgan St. on Wednesday, Mostafa should give Georgetown’s 6-foot-6 senior center Sydney Wilson all she can handle down low.

Although the Blue and Gray appear the more talented team on paper in this matchup, the fact that first-year Head Coach Keith Brown’s team has struggled at times this season means it will surely prove a tough test.

In Wednesday night’s game, the Hoyas found themselves down 12 at the half to a 1-5 La Salle team. A 20-point Rodgers performance in the second half staved off the upset, but the unconvincing first half makes clear that Georgetown is still vulnerable.

So while Rodgers has carried the large bulk of the scoring load so far, others will need to begin to step up as the team inches closer to the rigors of Big East play. Junior forward Andrea White is the second leading scorer, with 11.9 points per contest, but no other Hoya player averages more than 6.6 per game.

Saturday’s fixture, slated for a 4 p.m. start at George Washington’s Smith Center, is the first of a three-game road trip for the Blue and Gray, continuing at Monmouth and Penn State next week.