The Georgetown women’s basketball team escaped an upset in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Friday, coming back from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat 9-seed Butler 62-58 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The 8-seed Hoyas will turn around to face No. 1 UConn women’s basketball in the quarterfinals at noon Saturday, marking the fourth time the programs have met in the conference tournament in the last five seasons. The Huskies beat Georgetown 78-42 in the 2024 Big East championship to end the Hoyas’ spectacular underdog run as a 6-seed. UConn also won meetings in the quarterfinals in 2022 and ’23.
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Georgetown struggled at both ends of the floor in the first half, shooting just 27.8% from the field and going 3-for-15 on 3-pointers while Butler hit 6-for-12 from beyond the arc. But the Hoyas came out of halftime with a vengeance, going on a 10-2 run early in the third quarter to take their first lead of the game. Georgetown held the Bulldogs without a made field for nearly seven minutes to finish the quarter and outscored them 21-12 with seven of Butler’s point coming at the free throw line.
The Bulldogs fought back in the fourth, cutting Georgetown’s lead to as little as two points in the final seconds, but the Hoyas held on thanks to several clutch free throws down the stretch from senior guard Laila Jewett. Jewett led Georgetown with 19 points plus two steals, and redshirt senior center Brianna Scott added 10 points, a team-high seven rebounds, two blocks and three steals in the win.
Heading into the quarterfinals, Georgetown is 0-2 against UConn this season and 6-57 all-time. The Huskies won 83-42 in the first matchup on Jan. 22 in Washington D.C., and they completed the regular-season sweep with an 84-52 victory in Hartford on Feb. 26. The Huskies are five-time defending champions in the Big East Tournament and enter Saturday’s matchup on a 67-game winning streak against conference opponents.
