Nov. 2, 2007
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team will kickoff its 2007-08 campaign, when it hosts the Team Reebok Premier Players on Sunday in an exhibition game at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tip off is slated for 2 p.m. and there will be no charge for admission. Radio coverage will be provided by WREK-FM (91.1) in Atlanta, and online at www.wrek.org, while livestsats will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
“We are really looking forward to getting out on the court and playing,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “Our players are ready to compete. We have begun to solidify our lineup but a game like this will offer us more opportunities to see what does and does not work.”
The Yellow Jacket squad includes four-of-five starters and eight letterwinners from the 2006-07 team that finished with a 21-12 record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Returning starters include seniors Janie Mitchell and Chioma Nnamaka, junior Jacqua Williams and sophomore Brigitte Ardossi. Other letterwinners returning include seniors Daphne Mitchell and Jill Ingram, junior Tabitha Turner and sophomore Tiffany Blackmon.
Tech fans will have an opportunity to watch five Jackets make their debuts on Sunday. The 2007-08 newcomers include Deja Foster (Memphis, Tenn.), Iasia Hemingway (Newark, N.J.), Alex Montgomery (Tacoma, Wash.) and Shaday Woolcock (Atlanta, Ga.). Amy Horton, a sophomore from Tallapoosa, Ga. transferred to Tech from UCLA midway through last season and will be eligible to play against Team Reebok. Freshman Simone Trice (Flint, Mich.) will sit out this game due to an Achilles injury.
“We have begun to see some chemistry form on the defensive side of the ball,” Joseph added. “Our freshmen continue to mesh with our upperclassman and should become significant contributors. We are just getting better everyday.”
The 10-member Premier Players squad includes a pair of former Atlantic Coast Conference players in Georgia Tech’s Kentrina Wilson and North Carolina’s Leah Metcalf. Wilson closed out her career at Tech last March, helping the Jackets to the programs first NCAA Tournament victory. The rest of the Premier Player’s roster is made up of Dominque Redding, Courtney McDaniel and Sidney Spencer of Tennessee, Tenecia Pam and Fatima Maddox of Temple, Sherell Sowho and Yolanda Paige of West Virginia and Katie Alsdurf of Minnesota.
“It will be very strange to see Kentrina on the other side,” Joseph said. “She was a major contributor to our program and I am glad that she will have an opportunity to play on our home court one more time.”
The Yellow Jackets regular-season opener is next Friday, Nov. 9 against Davidson beginning at 8 p.m. as part of a men’s and women’s doubleheader at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Jackets will then travel to New Orleans, La. to face Tulane (Nov. 13) before returning home to raise the NCAA banner on Nov. 18 against Temple.
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