Nov. 13, 2011
Duluth, Ga. – Sophomore Dawnn Maye, starting her second career game, led the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (2-0) to an 87-56 win over the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs (0-2) Sunday afternoon at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.
Maye was one of four Yellow Jackets to finish in double figures. Sophomore Tyaunna Marshall and senior Sasha Goodlett each finished with game-highs of 17 points. Freshman Sydney Wallace tallied double-digits for the second time in as many games to begin her career with 12 points.
After finishing Friday’s season-opener with a career-high 13 points, Maye topped that with 14 points and 10 assists, becoming the first Yellow Jacket to tally a points/assists double-double since Alex Stewart did so against Clemson on Jan. 23, 2003. In tallying her first career double-double, Maye narrowly missed a triple-double as she hauled in a career-best eight rebounds.
“Dawnn Maye makes things look a little easier, we get easier baskets with her on the floor because she’s able to break down the defense and create shots with our players facing the basket,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “They don’t have to make moves every time to score because she does such a great job of penetrating and kicking and finding people.”
The Yellow Jackets built a quick 5-0 lead barely two minutes into the contest, but Old Dominion rallied to take its only lead of the game, 8-7, on a JoNiquia Guilford 3-pointer at the 14:46 mark of the first half. After falling behind, Tech held ODU scoreless for five minutes, doubling up the Lady Monarchs, 16-8.
After an Old Dominion jumper and a pair of free throws to make the score 16-12 in favor of Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets ripped off a 15-2 run, allowing only a pair of Lady Monarch free throws.
Tech led at the break for the second time in as many games to open the 2011-12 season, 33-24.
The Yellow Jacket maintained the defensive pressure to begin the second half, holding the Lady Monarchs without a field goal from the 17:37 point to the 12:44 mark, and using a 15-2 run to build a 58-31 lead.
From there, Tech outscored the Lady Monarchs 29 to 25 down the stretch to finish off the 87-56 win.
“I was pleased with our effort on the boards today,” Joseph said. “Any time you can get 54 rebounds against a team like Old Dominion, you have to be pleased with that. I’m pleased with the offensive production overall of this team. One of the areas of concern coming into this year was how are we going to replace our leading scorer, Alex Montgomery. I think you’ve seen how Dawnn Maye and some others have stepped up.”
The Yellow Jackets will make their first road trip of the season when they travel to Milwaukee, Wis., to face the Marquette Golden Eagles in a 2 p.m. ET contest on Saturday, Nov. 19, as part of the Super Six Series. Richard Musterer and Michele Van Gorp will call the action on WREK 91.1 FM
In Saturday’s game at Marquette, Joseph and Golden Eagles head coach Terri Mitchell will each coach barefoot in support of Soles for Jesus, a non-profit organization that provides new and gently used shoes to people in impoverished areas in Africa. Both schools’ assistant coaches will wear sneakers in support of the program as well.
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— RamblinWreck.com –
