Lady Hoyas in preseason top 10
Published 8:45 pm Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Georgetown’s women’s basketball team will open its season next week ranked No. 10 in the nation in the Associated Press preseason poll.
The Lady Hoyas enter this season off of reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 and finishing 24-11 a season ago.
Junior Sugar Rodgers (King’s Fork) is a unanimous first team All-Big East honoree at guard for the Lady Hoyas after earning the same award at the end of last season along with honorable mention All-American honors from the AP and the State Farm Coaches Association.
Rodgers, a 5-foot-11 guard, averaged 18.7 points per game, second in the Big East to Connecticut’s Maya Moore, while breaking her own school record with 96 made three-pointers for the season.
Rodgers scored 26 points in GU’s first round NCAA Tournament win over Princeton and 34 points in GU’s win over Maryland in the next round. Georgetown lost to Connecticut in the round of 16.
In two seasons, Rodgers is No. 14 in Georgetown’s career scoring list with 1,233 points.
The Lady Hoyas open the season on Friday, Nov. 11 by hosting Longwood. Road games at Maryland and at Louisiana State follow the season opener.
The No. 10 ranking is the highest ever for Georgetown women’s basketball. Seven Big East teams are in the AP preseason top 25.
“It’s exciting to be ranked in the top 10 because it shows that all of the work we have put in has paid off and that our program has finally gained the respect we deserve,” said Georgetown coach Terri Williams-Flournoy to the Associated Press.
“However, we have a very tough nonconference schedule and obviously the Big East is incredibly difficult so we have a long way to go to live up to this ranking,” Williams-Flournoy said.
Top-seeded and national No. 1 Old Dominion is hosting the CAA Field Hockey Championship Thursday through Sunday at the Powhatan Sports Complex.
The Lady Monarchs (18-2, 8-0) get a bye through to Saturday’s semifinal round.
No. 4 James Madison and No. 5 Delaware meet in the first match of a first-round doubleheader this evening at 5 p.m.
Senior defender Lindsay Cutchins (Lakeland) has three goals and an assist this season for the Lady Dukes. Sophomore Stephanie Tarafas (Nansemond River) is JMU’s backup goalie, having played in five games with a 1-1 record.
The winner between JMU and UD gets ODU on Saturday at 12 p.m.
ODU freshman midfielder Kelsey Smither (Lakeland) has four goals and nine assists on the season.
ODU retained its No. 1 ranking this week despite ending the regular season with a 3-2 overtime loss to No. 2 North Carolina, making for a season split between ODU and UNC.
The CAA final is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.