Jan. 20, 2010
ATLANTA – The 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball team (15-4, 2-2 ACC) will look to rebound from a disappointing loss last Sunday when it hosts Savannah State (8-14) Thursday. The game at Alexander Memorial Coliseum is slated for 7 p.m.
Gameday CentralGame #20 Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010Opponent: Savannah State Lady TigersTip-Off: 7:00 p.m. ETSite: Alexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191)Radio: WREK 91.1 FM/www.WREK.orgTalent: Richard Musterer (pbp) and Kurt Hoyt (analyst)Live Stats: www.RamblinWreck.com via GametrackerTickets: $7 adults, $5 children, seniors
GEORGIA TECH VS. SAVANNAH STATE
• Georgia Tech is 2-2 all-time against Savannah State with its two losses coming in the 70’s.
• Tech has won the last two meetings with the Lady Tigers by an average of 54 points.
• The Yellow Jackets are 24-3 (.889) against teams classified as independent.
• The Jackets visited Savannah, Ga. last season to play close to Mo Bennett (Statesboro, Ga.), Metra Walthour (Hinesville, Ga.) and LaQuananisha Adams’ (Hinesville, Ga.) homes.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Alex Montgomery, an All-ACC third team member a year ago, is only 87 points shy of becoming the 23rd player in Yellow Jacket history to reach this milestone. Montgomery, who has scored 168 points this season, finished with 335 points her freshman season and added 410 as a sophomore.
MONTGOMERY KNOCKS THEM DOWN FROM LONG RANGE
Alex Montgomery has become one of the most prolific three-point shooters in Georgia Tech history. She has knocked down 140 in her career, which is good for fifth all-time. She is shooting .355 (8th all-time) from three-point range for her career. In her first 14 games this season, Montgomery has shot 36-99 (.364) from beyond the arc. If eligible (she has not played in 75% of team’s games), Montgomery would be fourth in the ACC in 3-pointers made this season. Her five three-point baskets vs. Wake Forest tied a career-high.
SENIOR CLASS WINNINGEST CLASS IN GEORGIA TECH HISTORY
The 2009-10 senior class, Brigitte Ardossi and Tiffany Blackmon, have been part of 80 wins in their three plus seasons on the Flats, which is the all-time class record. The Jackets seniors have topped last year’s senior class, who had 79 wins between them, to become the winningest senior class in the history of the women’s basketball program.
ARDOSSI THE AUSSIE
Senior Brigitte Ardossi, if nothing else, has been extremely consistent over her three-plus seasons on the Flats. The Melbourne, Australia native has played in all 116 games since she came to Tech and has started 68 of them. She ranks seventh all-time in Tech history in field-goal percentage by shooting .496 (277-558) from the field. As a junior, she averaged 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting a team-best 81.9 percent from the free-throw line.
This season, coach Joseph is seeing a big return from her senior “enforcer”. She is putting up 14.2 points and 6.8 boards per game so far and has connected on 63-80 (.788) free-throw attempts in a career-high 28.1 minutes a game. Ardossi has scored in double figures in 12 straight games and 17 of the Yellow Jackets 19 contests this season. She has also recorded three double-doubles on the year.
DEJA VU – FOSTER SHOWING IMPROVEMENT ON PREVIOUS SEASON
Just like 2008-09, junior Deja Foster has shown improvements on her previous season. Though her scoring average has not jumped eight point like the previous season, she has put up career-highs in points (9.6), rebounds (6.5) and assists (3.7) over the first 19 games of the season. Foster has notched a pair of double-doubles this season and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds in win over Army.
Foster has played so well this season, she is currently one of only two players (Shenise Johnson, Miami) in the ACC to rank in the top 30 of scoring, top 20 of rebounding and top 10 of assists.
REBOUNDING WITH REGINS
Sophomore Chelsea Regins is known to be very active when she gets on the court and it showed when she grabbed a career-high 16 boards to go with her 11 points against Florida Gulf Coast. She did not only record her first career double-double, it was also the first time a Yellow Jackets has recorded 16 rebounds in a game since Sonja Mallory had 16 rebounds against Wake Forest on Jan. 31, 2003. She is pulling down 4.5 rebounds a game so far this season. Regins is also scoring 5.2 points a contest for Tech.
THE `MO’TER IS RUNNING
While junior Alex Montgomery was out with an injury, sophomore Mo Bennett filled in admirably for the All-ACC wing. Bennett has shown her ability to score (career-high 21 points vs. Winthrop) and the ability to rebound (career-high 13 rebounds vs. FGCU). Bennett put it all together in a win at Kennesaw State with her first career double-double (23 pts, 11 reb). She is scoring 8.4 a game and is grabbing 5.3 rebounds a game. She also has recorded 34 steals and 43 assists in 19 games. Bennett, who is only 5-10, has registered at least seven rebounds in six games this season.
WALTHOUR CONTROLS THE OFFENSE
Sophomore Metra Walthour has become a real leader on the court with the basketball. Walthour currently is second in the ACC in Assist/Turnover Ratio with a 1.7 ratio (60 assists to 34 turnovers). She is averaging 3.2 assists and 4.7 points in a team-high 31.4 minutes per game (Fourth-most in ACC).
94 FEET WITH THE JACKETS
Over the past two seasons, Georgia Tech has led the NCAA in steals per game. This has to be credited to Coach Joseph’s pressing defense. Joseph will press for 40 minutes with numerous pressing schemes to keep the offense off-balance. Joseph wants her team to “be an impressive running defensive team that creates opportunities for the offense.” The team has totaled 890 steals the past two years, good for 13.9 per game. Under Coach Joseph, the Yellow Jackets have registered the three top seasons for steals in school history.
The Yellow Jackets have started 2009-10 with 207 steals (10.9 pg) in the first 19 games.
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
Since Joseph began her tenure, Georgia Tech is 77-22 (.778) at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Last season, Tech finished with a 13-2 mark on the Coliseum floor. Tech has won its first eight games at home in 2009-10 and is scheduled to play 14 games during the season.
TECH ENTERS SEVENTH SEASON UNDER COACH JO
Coach MaChelle Joseph, who is entering her seventh season at Georgia Tech, has already recorded the second-most wins in Tech history. Joseph has registered a 121-80 (.602) record and is the fastest coach in school history to win 100. She has led Tech to its three straight 20-win seasons and three straight NCAA Tournaments, both firsts for the Yellow Jacket program. Joseph registered her 100th victory on Feb. 1, 2009 against Clemson.
MARCH TO WIN No. 500
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball program is nine wins shy of the programs 500th all-time victory. Over the 35-plus seasons of women’s basketball on the Flats, Tech is 496-507 (.495) in 1,003 games. Since the 2000-01 season, Georgia Tech has won 170 games (34 percent of all wins).
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RANKINGS
Georgia Tech is ranked 22nd in the Jan. 18th Associated Press poll and was receiving votes in the Jan. 19th USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. This marks a school-record sixth straight week Tech is in the AP poll.
Tech has earned a national ranking for the 14th week in the last three years under head coach MaChelle Joseph. The program has only been ranked for 19 weeks in its entire history. Tech, who was ranked 19th in the preseason Associated Press poll, earned a ranking the preseason for the first time and erned its highest-ever ranking.
