Nov. 18, 2012
THE FLATS – Junior Dawnn Maye and freshman Brittany Jackson led the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (2-1) to a 76-72 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles (1-1) Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.
Maye tied her career-high with 23 points while Jackson tossed in 21 points, including five 3-pointers. Junior Tyaunna Marshall added 17 points while sophomore Sydney Wallace finished with 11. For Marshall, it was the 57th time in her career that she scored in double digits.
“It was great to see four players in double figures,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “We’ve been counting on Ty, Dawnn and Syd all year but to see someone like Brittany Jackson step up and make plays, especially the 3-point shooting, was good. We were able to make some adjustments and come out with a win. That’s a sign of a good team, when you can play ugly and win. I thought we did the things we had to do and made plays down the stretch to get us the win.
“Brittany Jackson as a freshman was really impressive,” Joseph added. “That might’ve been one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen from a freshman at Georgia Tech. I thought she put us on her back, made plays and made shots. She was really good on the defensive end, got us a lot of turnovers and deflections.”
The Yellow Jackets finished with 27 steals, tying the Georgia Tech single-game record for steals in a game. Tech also tallied 27 steals against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 22, 2008, and against Georgia State on Dec. 14, 1993. Maye led the charge with 10 steals, the fourth-most steals by a Jacket all-time.
In typical Tech fashion, the Jackets used their defense to jumpstart their offense. For the day, Tech forced 37 Marquette turnovers and turned the Golden Eagle miscues into 38 points.
“One of the things I wasn’t happy with against Tennessee or Kennesaw state was I didn’t feel like we were playing Georgia Tech basketball,” Joseph said. “We didn’t get enough steals or force enough turnovers. I think the 27 steals shows we are getting better, we are learning the system and we’re starting to make plays.”
Tech’s defense came ready to go from the start, earning four steals in the first 1:41 and helping the Jackets build a 9-0 lead before Marquette scored its first basket.
Maye’s 3-pointer just over two-and-a-half minutes in put the Yellow Jackets up 12-2. The Golden Eagles rallied and ran off a 14-0 run to take a 16-12 lead at the 13:09 mark of the first half.
The rest of the first half was back-and-forth as the first 20 minutes finished with six ties and three lead changes. Georgia Tech held Marquette to only six points in the final 5:17 of the first half and took a 37-33 lead into intermission.
Georgia Tech shot nearly 44 percent in the first half with Marshall and Maye leading the way with 10 points each. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of 20 Golden Eagle turnovers and turned them into 19 offensive points in the first half.
Marquette was able to cut the Tech lead to three after falling behind by eight less than a minute into the second half but would be unable to get closer. The Jackets’ defense held Marquette without a field goal from the 12:15 point of the second half to the 7:25 mark and built an 11-point lead.
The Golden Eagles were able to trim the Tech lead late but the Jacket lead was too much to overcome.
“It was one of those games where we had to do what we had to do in order to win,” Joseph said. “Fortunately, we had a big enough lead that we were able to weather the storm the last three minutes of the game when we had three point guards on the floor.”
Georgia Tech will be back in action on Friday and Saturday when the Jackets play Syracuse and UW-Milwaukee in the San Juan Shootout in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Both games will tip off at noon Eastern and can be heard on WREK 91.1 FM.
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s basketball on Twitter, @GTWBB, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball, for an inside look at the program.
–RamblinWreck.com–
