March 21, 2003
GAME: No. 10 Georgia Tech (20-10) vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech (21-9).
REGIONAL: East, first round.
TIME: Saturday, 11:14 a.m. EST.
SITE: Mackey Arena; West Lafayette, Ind.
Georgia Tech looks to earn the first NCAA tournament victory in its history when it takes on Virginia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets are making their fourth straight postseason appearance but first in the NCAA tournament since 1993 – the only other time they earned an NCAA bid.
That year, Georgia Tech was knocked off 90-62 by Northwestern in the first round.
“This is a great statement for our program and where we are at right now,” said coach Agnus Berenato, whose team played in the WNIT the last three seasons. “I think it’s great for the players and our staff. Getting to the NCAA tournament has been our No. 1 goal all year and now I told the team that we get to reset our goals as we head into the tournament.”
The Yellow Jackets finished the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, winning five of six.
However, that momentum was stalled with a 76-52 loss to second-ranked Duke in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
Fallon Stokes had a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds for Georgia Tech, which shot 31 percent from the floor and committed 23 turnovers. Stokes averaged 16.0 points in the first two games of the tournament.
Sonja Mallory was third in the ACC with 16.5 points per game, but managed just eight against the Blue Devils.
“I just told my team that only Connecticut is better (than Duke), and it took Connecticut 40 minutes to beat them,” Berenato said. “Duke only had to play 20 minutes against us.”
Virginia Tech played top-ranked Connecticut tough for 20 minutes in the semifinals of the Big East tournament before falling 71-54.
The Hokies built a 25-18 first-half lead before the Huskies used a 13-4 run to give them a 31-29 advantage at the break.
Ieva Kublina had team highs of 16 points and six rebounds for Virginia Tech, which appeared to tire in the second half.
“Playing three games in three days and an overtime (one day earlier), it’s reality,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Georgia Tech – F Stokes, C Mallory, G Alex Stewart, G Megan Harpring, G Megan Isom. Virginia Tech – F Kublina, F Chrystal Starling, C Erin Gibson, G Emily Lipton, G Carrie Mason.
TEAM LEADERS: Georgia Tech – Mallory, 16.5 ppg and 9.1 rpg; Stewart, 5.6 apg. Virginia Tech – Kublina, 15.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg; Mason, 3.3 apg.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Georgia Tech – At-large bid, Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia Tech – At-large bid, Big East.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Georgia Tech – 0-1, 1 year. Virginia Tech – 5-5, 5 years.
