By: Lauren J. Young ~Staff Writer~
The Xavier women’s basketball team finished its season with a loss in the first round of the Big East tournament to No. 8 Georgetown.
The ninth-seeded Muskies lost on March 8 56-37 to the Hoyas at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago. The Muskies’ overall record for the season was 8-23 (3-15 in the Big East).
Although it was a tough loss and a poor shooting night of 27.1 percent from the field, there were a few notable players who stepped up.
Sophomore forward Briana Glover scored eight points and had three rebounds whereas fellow sophomore guard Aliyah Zantt contributed eight points, six steals and five rebounds. Senior guard Ashley Wanninger put up seven points in her last appearance as a Musketeer. Freshman forward Maddison Blackwell finished with six points and four rebounds. Blackwell was also selected to join the Big East All-Freshman team.
Unfortunately, Georgetown outdid Xavier on many fronts. Its field percentage was exactly two times better than XU’s (GU at 54.2 percent). It grabbed eight more rebounds (GU’s 18 to XU’s 10) and scored eight more points in the paint (GU’s 18 to XU’s 10).
Although the Muskies’ outcome looked hopeful, down by just five at the half (31-26), the Hoyas held the Muskies down in a 21-2 run in nearly nine minutes, the score 52-29.
The Muskies were not able to recover and managed to get just eight more points on the board.