THE FLATS – A quick start and dominant paint defense saw Georgia Tech women’s basketball collect a 70-60 win over Boston College Sunday inside McCamish Pavilion.
Tech got out to a 17-5 first quarter lead after an 8-0 run to open Sunday’s showdown. The Yellow Jackets (10-13, 5-6 ACC) were led by 15 rebounds from Brianna Turnage – her fourth game grabbing at least 10 – and 18 points from Talayah Walker. Catherine Alben (who scored seven of Tech’s first seven points) and Jada Crawshaw entered off the bench and scored 13 and 10, respectively, contributing to 37 bench points on the day for Tech.
Walker shot 9-for-13 from the floor while Crawshaw was a perfect 5-for-5.
Tech’s defense proved to be efficient once again in the matchup, holding the Eagles (4-20, 0-11 ACC) to 19.2% from beyond the arc (5-for-26) after BC made 16 three-pointers vs. NC State Thursday.
Offensively, the Jackets produced 50 points inside the paint to Boston College’s 24, the largest margin in that category since Dec. 28 vs. Wofford (+30).
FIRST HALF
After a scoreless opening three-and-a-half minutes, Alben hit a triple to give Tech a 3-0 lead. She scored again on the next offensive possession to extend the advantage to 5-0. La’Nya Foster then added a free throw before a steal-and-score from Alben made it 8-0. Boston College finally got on the board with 4:03 left in the first via a free throw, now 8-1. Turnage then struck with her first bucket near the three-minute mark to get the Jackets to 10 points. BC then scored its first field goal of the day with 2:41 on the clock but it was quickly answered by Walker who added her first score, 12-3. On the next Tech possession, Ariadna Termis sank a triple to push it to 15-3. The Eagles managed one more score in the period before Walker made her second basket of the day to give Tech a 17-5 lead after one.
Crawshaw scored the first points of the second quarter to get Tech’s lead to 19-5. BC then connected on a triple to slice into the GT lead before Foster made her first field goal, 21-8, with nine minutes left. After nearly four minutes with just one make, Crawshaw added another score for Tech to make it 23-10. Walker scored again around a minute later to help the Jackets to a 25-12 lead at the 3:59 media timeout. After a Termis free throw out of the media timeout, Alben grabbed her own second-chance layup, pushing the advantage to 28-12. On the next two possessions, D’Asia Thomas-Harris entered off the bench and scored back-to-back paint jumpers to push Tech’s lead to 32-14. Boston College managed five more points while Savannah Samuel scored one final bucket for the Jackets to help the Jackets to a 34-19 halftime lead.
SECOND HALF
Boston College scored the first two buckets of the third before Walker broke the run on a layup, 36-23. Two free throws apiece from Alben and Erica Moon got Tech to 40, ahead by 15. Then a steal-and-score from Walker got Tech ahead by two more, 42-25. That shot got the sophomore into double figures for the 17th time this season. A pair of free throws from Moon followed by a driving layup from Samuel put GT ahead 46-27 at the 3:03 media timeout. BC managed a short 5-0 run before a final make from Termis saw Georgia Tech lead 50-34 going into the fourth.
Walker opened the fourth with a score, followed by another from Turnage. Walker scored again on the next possession, giving Tech a 6-0 run in less than a minute to make it 56-34. The two connected again seconds later, with Turnage assisting Walker’s third basket in less than two minutes, 58-34. BC managed a 9-0 run to get down by 15 then Walker scored again for the Jackets, now 60-43. Thomas-Harris then found the basket to make it a 19-point lead. After a score from BC, Crawshaw entered in off the bench and scored quickly to answer, 64-45. She scored again over a minute later to make it 66-47. The Eagles managed another run to get within 13, 66-53, before Crawshaw found the basket once again to make it 68-55. The road team hit a trey to get within 10, 68-58. Each team then scored just one basket apiece as Tech won, 70-60.
GAME NOTES
- Tech held BC to 19 first-half points, the fewest allowed by the Jackets in an ACC game this season.
- Tech improves to 18-9 all-time against the Eagles
- Tech improves its win streak over BC to three and its home win streak in the series to four.
- Sunday was Turnage’s 17th career game collecting 10+ rebounds and 13th this season.
- Termis tied her season-high in assists with five.
UP NEXT
Tech continues its three-game homestand Thursday, Feb, 5 at 7 p.m. against California on ACC Network Extra. Fans can purchase tickets here.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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