CORAL GABLES — By the way the University of Miami and Georgetown played the first half, you wouldn’t have guessed that two of the Big East’s best women’s teams were on the court.

But if you saw how the teams played in the second half, you stood corrected. And in the end, it was Miami which did a better job at cleaning up its act.

The Lady ‘Canes handed the Hoyas their first Big East loss Saturday, 62-55 at the Knight Sports Complex to improve to 2-1 in the conference, tied for second with Georgetown behind league-leading Pittsburgh.

Miami, which improved to 7-3 after dropping out of the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, now the leads the UM-Hoya Big East series 3-0. Georgetown fell to 8-3.

“We just want to start playing our game again and get some of our respect back,” UM coach Ferne Labati said. “We’re just trying to get our image back after losing a couple of big games.”

But in the first half, it didn’t look promising — for either team.

Both teams struggled, Miami shooting 27 percent while Georgetown wasn’t much better at 29 percent. UM standout center Vicki Plowden had just eight points and was just 3 of 10 from the field with 11 rebounds while committing three turnovers.

“I wasn’t really frustrated,” Plowden said. “I expected them to come out and push me around like they did. I was all right, though. I knew I just had to fight harder.”

And she did.

Plowden’s finished with 15 points and 14 reounds to help key a Miami rally in the second half. Guards Holly Rilinger, a freshman, and Della Wilson scored 13 each.

“Vicki wasn’t frustrated at all,” Labati said. “We knew they were going to be real physical with her. She did fine.

“I give a lot of credit to the guards, too. They were getting a lot of playing time and it showed it paid off tonight.”

Miami opened the second half with a 23-20 lead and scored the first five points to go up 28-20. The Hoyas then went on a 17-10 run to come within one with 9:35 to play. Georgetown tied the game a minute later at 39-39 on two Daynia LaForce free throws.

The Hoyas took the lead 45-44 with 6:23 to play on a Kris Witfill driving layup. The lead then changed hands three more times before Miami pulled away with a 14-8 run to close the game. Rillinger sparked the run with eight points.

UM shot 37 percent in the game and had 17 turnovers while Georgetown shot 46 percent with 19 turnovers.

“We gave a great effort out there,” Georgetown coach Patrick Knapp said. “Miami’s guards made some big buckets down the stretch and that hurt. We’re very down about losing but they played strong.”

Witfill finished with 19 points for Georgetown while Nadira Ricks chipped in with 14.

Miami’s next game is Friday at Connecticutt. Its next home game is Jan. 21 against Villanova.