LAS VEGAS - Georgetown accomplished two firsts Saturday with its 64-56 upset of No. 10 Georgia.
The 21st-ranked Hoyas not only won their first-ever game against the Lady Bulldogs, they also gave coach Terri Williams her first win against former boss Andy Landers.
"I worked for coach Landers for six years and he taught me a lot," said Williams, a former assistant under Landers at Georgia. "So, it's just a big win for our program, not so much as beating Coach Landers."
Sugar Rodgers scored 23 points for Georgetown in the first-round game at the Lady Rebel Round-Up.
Tia Magee added 14 points for the Hoyas (4-2), who led by as many as 11 points.
"I expected exactly what we got," said Landers. "I expected full-court defense for 40 minutes. I expected them to come at you with a lot of traps, Rodgers to try and score a lot of points, and that's exactly what they did today.
"We've got to get up in the morning, get ready to play and play like it's meaningful because it is. I was a little bit disappointed with that today."
Jasmine James and Khaalidah Miller scored 16 points apiece for Georgia (4-1), and Jasmine Hassell added 12 points.
The Hoyas will face UNLV in Sunday's championship game, while the Lady Bulldogs will take on Northeastern in the consolation contest.
"We had to do two things," said Williams. "We had to be able to run our press and turn Georgia over, but we had to be able to score off of those turnovers as well."
The Lady Bulldogs got within 59-56 on James' two free throws with 2:01 left, but Rubylee Wright's jumper with 1:29 left made it a two-possession lead for the Hoyas at 61-56.
The Hoyas opened the second half with a 17-8 run and took their largest lead, 48-37, with 11:55 left in the game. Taylor Brown hit two 3-pointers and Rodgers had five points during the run.
The Hoyas held a 31-29 halftime lead despite falling behind 9-2 to start the game. James scored the Bulldogs' first seven points on a 3-pointer and two jumpers, and had 14 points at halftime.
The Hoyas claimed their first lead of the game at 18-15 when reserve guard Alexa Roche hit a 3-pointer with 6:43 left in the first half. Roche then gave the Hoyas their biggest lead of the game, 20-15, when she connected on a jumper.
The Lady Bulldogs came back to tie the score at 20-20 on Miller's 3-pointer and James' putback.
Georgetown then surged to its halftime lead largely on Rodgers' three consecutive 3-pointers in the final four minutes. Rodgers led the Hoyas at intermission with 14 points.