Jan. 31, 2009
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team will try and move above .500 in the Atlantic Coast Conference when it hosts Clemson (12-10, 2-6 ACC) Sunday afternoon. Tipoff at Alexander Memorial Coliseum is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The game will be televised live on the Comcast Sports South (CSS). Paul Crane and LaChina Robinson will call all the action. Fans can also listen to Richard Musterer and Kurt Hoyt describe the play-by-play on WREK Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org), Georgia Tech women’s basketball’s flagship station, as well as XM Radio (Channel 192).
The Yellow Jacket women (15-5, 3-3), who are coming off their second win over Miami this season, will play its first of two games against Clemson. The Jackets swept last season’s series with the Tigers and have won five straight over its regional rival. Alex Montgomery leads the team with 13.7 points a game, while averaging a team-leading 7.0 rebounds. Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph will make her first attempt at win No. 100 of her career.
The Tigers, who are on a three-game losing streak, are led by junior Lele Hardy, who is averaging 17.2 points and 9.1 rebounds a contest. Hardy is the only member of Clemson’s team to start every game this season.
Clemson, who leads the all-time series 41-18, hold the fourth-most wins all-time over the Yellow Jackets.
TECH VS. CLEMSON
• Clemson leads the all-time series 41-18 but Tech has won five straight in the series.
• This is the first of two meetings this season between the two programs, they will meet in Clemson on Feb. 22.
• This is the 60th meeting between the two programs, the third-most between Tech and an opponent (UNC, 61 games; UVA, 60).
• With eight players from the state of Georgia, Clemson lists more Georgia residents than Georgia Tech.
LOOKING BACK: TECH WOMEN’S BASKETBALL DEFEATS MIAMI, 68-42
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (15-5, 3-3 ACC) used a 13-0 run mid-way through the first half breaking open a tie game and never looked back en route to a 68-42 win over Miami (11-9, 1-5) Thursday night at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The Yellow Jackets dominated inside as they out-rebounded Miami, 42-29, and out-scored the Hurricanes in the paint by a 44-10 margin. Deja Foster led a very balanced scoring attack with 12 points, all in the first half. She also dished out six assists. Alex Montgomery and Sasha Goodlett added 11 points apiece, while Montgomery pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
NEXT UP: WAKE FOREST
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team will have a quick turnaround as it travels to Wake Forest Tuesday. Tipoff at Lawrence Joel Coliseum is slated for 7 p.m. Besides radio, fans can catch all the action on ACC Select.
COACH JO GOES FOR NUMBER 1-OH-OH
In just her sixth season at the helm, Coach MaChelle Joseph is already has recorded the second-most wins in Georgia Tech history. Joseph has registered a 99-71 (.582) records. She has led Tech to its first back-to-back 20-win seasons and two straight NCAA Tournaments. She will attempt to get win No. 100 Sunday against Clemson.
PICK A POCKET OR TWO
After three-plus seasons on the Flats, senior Jacqua Williams has earned the reputation as one of the best defenders in the nation. The speedster from Seattle, Wash., recorded her 279th career steal on Nov. 22, 2008 against Mississippi Valley State for a new school record, surpassing Kisha Ford and Tiffany Martin on the all-time steals list. Williams plans to obliterate the previous record during the remainder of the season.
Last season, Williams finished with a single-season school record 118 steals, leading the ACC and ranking fourth in the nation with 3.8 per game. She has registered at least one steal in 59 straight games and even held the ACC single game record for steals with 11 (later broken by former Yellow Jacket Jill Ingram with 14). This season she leads the Jackets with 74 steals and has 335 on her career. She now ranked seventh all-time in the ACC after passing former North Carolina standout Marion Jones. She currently leads the ACC and ranks fourth in the nation in steals with 3.7 per game.
NOT JUST A DEFENDER
Jacqua Williams has been known as a defensive-specialist since she came to Georgia Tech but those have come to an end. Not only has she become one of the best defensive players in the ACC but she is just as strong on the offensive side of the ball. Williams is averaging 12.7 points per contest and has scored in double-figures in 16 of Tech’s 20 games. She also leads the team with 75 assists on the year and has grabbed 3.2 rebounds a game.
SHE CAN DO IT ALL
Anyone who watched Alex Montgomery play last season knows she can really do it all. She is not only the team’s top returning scorer (10.8) and rebounder (5.4), Montgomery has also shown she can dish it, steal it, block it or even win a jump ball. A starter of 26 games as a freshman, Montgomery has become the center of the Yellow Jackets offense. She is averaging 13.7 points and has grabbed 7.0 rebounds a game.
Montgomery has registered five double-doubles this season.
FROM BEYOND THE ARC
With the graduation of Chioma Nnamaka, the program’s all-time leader in three’s made, coach Joseph needed someone to step up and knock down a big three for the Jackets. Alex Montgomery has become that threat. She has nailed 49 trey’s this season and 81 for her career, moving her into eighth-place on the Georgia Tech all-time three-pointers made list. She is also shooting 36 percent from beyond-the-arc.
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE … OYE, OYE, OYE
Junior Brigitte Ardossi started 26 games during her freshman season and helped the Jackets to their first win in the NCAA Tournament. Last season she was regulated to the first big off the bench and made the most of her opportunity by scoring 3.9 points per game and grabbing 2.8 rebounds in 14.5 minutes. Coach Joseph expects big things from her Aussie post-player in 2008-09 and has inserted her back into the starting lineup. She has played in 85 straight games, every game since coming to the Flats, and has started 45 of those games.
Ardossi, who has elevated her game to a new level, is scoring 7.3 points a game and is grabbing 4.1 rebounds per game. She is also knocking down her free-throw attempts at an 83% clip. She has hit 16 straight free-throws going back to the Winthrop game.
Against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 30, 2008, Ardossi scored a career-high 18 points to lead Tech to the win. On Dec. 5, Ardossi helped Tech defeat its archrival Georgia with her first career double-double (15 pts, 10 reb).
MOVING OUT
Sophomore Iasia Hemingway excelled as an undersized post player for the Jackets last season, scoring over 20 points against the likes of Maryland’s Crystal Langhorne and Tasha Humphrey of Georgia. This season, Coach Joseph has added some taller players to the Jackets roster that will allow Hemingway to take her game outside to the wing. Hemingway will now have a chance to not only post up players her height, she will also be able to take the ball to the basket and box out smaller guards for rebounds.
Hemingway is averaging 10.9 points and is registering 4.9 rebounds a game. She recorded her first career double-double against Georgia State (21 pts, 11 reb.) on Nov. 26, 2008. Hemingway has also shown a knack for getting to the free-throw line, with 80 attempts so far and is shooting 65 percent from the charity stripe.
SIXTH (WO)MAN
Most teams are lucky enough to have a solid starting five. This season, Joseph feels she can list six starters on her roster. Sophomore Deja Foster has shown the ability to step on the court and make an instant impact for the Jackets. Foster is averaging 25.4 minutes and has started four games this season, including her first career start on Nov. 30, 2008 against Tennessee Tech.
Foster is scoring 7.6 points a game and is averaging 4.6 rebounds. Against Michigan State, she sparked Tech in the final five minutes with her first career three-pointer and back-to-back three-point plays on her way to a career-high 13 points.
FULL COURT PRESS
Last season, Georgia Tech finished the season with a school record 456 steals and led the NCAA with 14.3 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 offensive off-balance. Joseph wants her team to “be an impressive running defensive team that creates opportunities for the offense.” More than half way through the season, Tech is averaging a staggering 13.9 steals a game.
The Yellow Jackets have scored 474 points off of turnovers and are averaging 23.7 points per contest off opponent turnovers.
THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Since Joseph began her tenure, Georgia Tech is 66-21 (.759) at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Last season, Tech finished with a program-best 14-2 mark on the Coliseum floor and is off to a good start in 2008-09, registering a 10-1 mark so far.
CHOW 4 YOW INITIATIVE
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball program in conjunction with the Atlantic Coast Conference is participating in the “Chow 4 Yow” Initiative. All ACC women’s basketball coaches have come together in support of former NC State head women’s basketball coach Kay Yow. Tech head Coach MaChelle Joseph and her staff have organized an exciting opportunity for individuals to win “A Day at the GTAA”. Yellow Jacket fans will have the opportunity to go online and bid on this event from today through Feb. 7 in support of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer FundTM. The winners will be announced at the Pink Zone game against NC State on Feb. 8.
The Yellow Jackets are scheduled to wear pink uniforms on the Feb. 8 game to show support for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Pink Zone initiative.
The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer FundTM is the sole charity beneficiary of the WBCA. With 100 percent of the league’s women’s basketball coaches and administrative staffs supporting the initiative, each school will conduct a “Meal with the Coach” fundraiser this season at his or her institution. All proceeds will be pooled together as a single donation to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer FundTM.
