THE FLATS – A dominant defensive outing combined with a collective offensive performance saw Georgia Tech women’s basketball run past Radford, 82-36, for the first victory under head coach Karen Blair.
The season-opening win – highlighted by a scoreless second quarter from the Tech defense – marked the fewest points allowed in a head coach’s debut game in program history (prev: 38 vs. Houston on Nov. 5, 2019 under Nell Fortner) and the fewest points allowed by Tech in a home opener since 2009.
“One of the things we’ve talked a lot about as a program is we really wanted to hang our hats on our defense and our rebounding,” Blair said postgame. “Holding them 0-for-12 in the second quarter and then more impressively: I thought we stayed consistent with it throughout the game.”
Georgia Tech (1-0, 0-0 ACC) ramped up the offensive production in the final quarter, scoring a game-high 32 points. The offense found plenty of success near the basket during the 40 minutes, outscoring the Highlanders (0-2, 0-0 Big South) in the paint, 40-10. Tech out-rebounded Radford a whopping 51-23 including 38-16 on defense.
Three Yellow Jackets found themselves in double-digit scoring figures Thursday as Talayah Walker led the charge with 16 (6-for-9 from the floor), joined by Catherine Alben (14) and D’Asia Thomas-Harris (10). Both entered the game off the bench. Brianna Turnage led the defensive rim presence for Tech, tallying 11 boards and tying her career high. Erica Moon set a new career-best with a team-high six assists.
Georgia Tech improved to 18-1 all-time against Big South foes and has now won 13 consecutive home openers. It marked the seventh-straight 1-0 start for the Yellow Jackets.
FIRST HALF
Walker drove home a layup on the Jackets’ opening possession for the first points of the season. The Tech defense kept Radford scoreless through the first two-and-a-half minutes before allowing a trey that cut into a game-opening 5-0 run. Inés Noguero responded with a three of her own to get Tech up by five again, 8-3. Radford evened the game at 10 with 2:20 left in the first before Tech added three points – two courtesy of a Turnage layup – to hold a 13-10 advantage after one.
Quarter two was a scoreless, defensive back-and-forth for the first 2:25 before two Savannah Samuel free throws ended the drought. The first field goal came with 7:03 left in the period on a drive to the rim by Walker. The Odenton, Md. native added a couple free throws to add to a 9-0 run going into the first media timeout. Thomas-Harris’ first points of the morning then improved the run to 11-0. Turnage had a clutch steal in the paint that was converted into a layup by Alben to put the home team up by 14 with 0:22 on the clock. A 14-0 run that lasted 11:35 of game time allowed Tech to go into the break up, 24-10.
SECOND HALF
Walker led off the scoring in the second half with a free throw in the first minute. Radford finally broke through with free throws at the 8:52 mark, ending a 13:28 scoring drought forced by the Tech defense. The Jackets responded with seven points in under two minutes, highlighted by a trey from Moon. Radford added four points before Tech went on a 12-0 run to get ahead by 30, 46-16. Jada Crawshaw sank her first basket as a Yellow Jacket with 1:03 left in the third, contributing to a 50-19 GT lead going into the fourth.
Walker once again set the tone to start the fourth quarter, adding a layup to be the first player on either side to reach double digits. Radford managed just seven points in the first five minutes of the fourth as the Jackets added 16 more – six coming from Walker – and Tech led 68-26 with 4:52 on the clock. Alben snagged her first three of the season and eclipsed 10 points on the day with 4:06 left to get the Yellow Jackets over 70, 71-26. Thomas-Harris became the third Jacket to get in double figures, sinking a pair of free throws at the 2:30 mark. A couple more buckets from Alben and a jumper from La’Nya Foster capped off Georgia Tech’s 82-36 win.
KEY NOTES
- Georgia Tech’s defense allowed just one second chance point for Radford Thursday.
- The Tech defense made the most of preventing damage via turnovers Thursday, allowing just two points off turnovers for the Highlanders.
- Georgia Tech’s best quarter attacking the basket came in the final 10 minutes, shooting 76.9% on 10-for-13.
- After allowing two made three-pointers in the first quarter, the Tech defense only gave up one for the final 34:32 of action.
- Every Tech student-athlete that saw action Thursday played for at least 11 minutes.
- Thomas-Harris finished one rebound shy (10 points, 9 rebounds) of her second-career double-double.
- Moon’s six points tied her career-high.
- Turnage, Moon and Walker made their first starts as Yellow Jackets Thursday.
UP NEXT
Blair and the Yellow Jackets return to the hardwood Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2:00 p.m. inside McCamish Pavilion for a showdown with the Princeton Tigers. Fans can catch the action on ACC Network Extra or by tuning in via the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets app.
Tickets for Sunday’s contest can be purchased here.
PURCHASE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TICKETS
Season tickets for the 2025-26 Georgia Tech women’s basketball season remain on sale. Season tickets begin at just $50 for general admission and $65 for reserved seats. Fans won’t want to miss any of the action in McCamish Pavilion this upcoming season, which features a challenging nine-game Atlantic Coast Conference schedule in addition to a competitive non-conference slate. To purchase tickets, or for more information, please visit RamblinWreck.com.
Single-game tickets also remain on sale, as well as a Mini Plan for patrons wishing to attend multiple games this season. A Mini Plan includes tickets to four games, anchored by Tech’s marquee matchup against Notre Dame on Jan. 1 plus the choice of three additional Atlantic Coast Conference games.
Group tickets are also on sale now. For groups interested in purchasing tickets to a Georgia Tech athletics event, please fill out this form linked.
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.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on X (@GTWBB), Instagram (GTWBB), Facebook (Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
