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No. 24 Georgetown holds off Louisville 60-56

Jan 16, 2010 - 10:57 PM WASHINGTON(AP) -- Sugar Rodgers scored 13 points and No. 24 Georgetown held off a late rally by Louisville for a 60-56 win on Saturday that was preceded by a pregame scuffle between the teams.

Georgetown coach Terri Williams-Flournoy was on the court when the skirmish broke out, but had her back to it while giving a television interview.

When Williams-Flournoy turned she "saw both teams kind of pulling at each other," she said.

"Its a Big East game. Emotions are high. Both teams are very competitive," said Williams-Flournoy. "It got to a situation that it shouldn't have gotten too."

Williams-Flournoy said she and Louisville coach Jeff Walz spoke at length once the players were separated, discussing what had occurred and how they would each take care of their own team.

The officials called the game tightly throughout, resulting in 52 fouls called and 59 free throws attempted.

Walz had not had a chance to see videotape of the incident and said that it was "not fair to comment either way without having a chance to see it."

The Big East Conference will allow the schools to take action before determining if additional discipline is required, league spokeswoman Rachel Margolis said.

Monica McNutt added 11 points for the Hoyas (15-2, 4-0 Big East), who entered the game first in the country in steals and turnover margin. They forced the Cardinals into 30 turnovers and took their biggest lead at 41-25 early in the second half.

The Cardinals slowly chipped their way back and took the lead on Keshia Hines' layup with 2:42 remaining before the Hoyas went back on top with two free throws by Jaleesa Butler.

Coming out of a timeout trailing by two with 3.6 seconds remaining, Nikki Burton threw the inbound pass out of bounds for the Cardinals and the Hoyas sank two more free throws to seal the win.

"We let them get easy shots and we weren't scoring so the momentum was going in their direction", Williams-Flournoy said of the Cardinals' rally. "The game is a game of runs. They made their run on us and we held our composure."

Hines had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals (10-7, 2-2), who entered the game 4-0 all-time against the Hoyas. Monique Reid added 15 points and Becky Burke scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half.

The teams combined to shoot 1 of 17 from beyond the arc in the opening half, but Georgetown forced 17 turnovers and led by as many as 13 points and 31-23 at the half.