@GTWBB Back In Action Sunday vs. Virginia

Jan. 16, 2016

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech welcomes Virginia on Sunday at 2 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion for Alumni Day. The game will be on ESPN3 with Brandon Gaudin and Angel Gray on the call. The game can also be heard on WREK 91.1 with Richard Musterer and Fallon Stokes.
2. This will be the 70th all-time meeting between Georgia Tech and Virginia. Georgia Tech has won seven of the past nine meetings against the Cavaliers and four-straight. The Jackets defeated Virginia, 68-62 in Charlottesville last season.
3. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside leads the ACC with her 20.9 points per game which also is 19th in the nation. She is also Tech’s leading rebounder with 7.6 boards per game, which is 8th in the ACC. She has scored at least 21 points in 13 of 18 games and had four-straight double-doubles this season. She scored her 1,000th career point against Southeastern Louisiana.
4. Freshman Ciani Cryor has stepped up during ACC play, averaging 9.4 points per game against conference opponents. Cryor led the Yellow Jackets at #3/3 Notre Dame with 19 points and scored a team-high 18 points at #19 Florida State.
5. Head coach MaChelle Joseph became the all-time winningest coach in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history last year and has a career record of 243-156 and the highest winning percentage in Yellow Jacket history at 61.0 percent. She is currently in her 13th season at the helm of the Jackets and is 88-97 in her career in ACC play.

a win would…
– Be the second-straight ACC win for the Jackets after starting off the conference season 0-4.
– Be the fifth-straight win against Virginia and the eighth win out of the past 10 meetings. 
– Be the first home win against Virginia since a 95-76 victory on Feb. 14, 2014. 
– Give the Yellow Jackets an overall ACC record of 190-340 and an 89-97 record in the ACC under Coach Joseph.
– Be the 244th win of Coach Joseph’s career. This is her 400th game as the head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
– Give Georgia Tech its 619th program win and put Georgia Tech at 619-583 overall over 41 years of women’s basketball.

a complete effort
The Yellow Jackets snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating North Carolina, 80-73, on Thursday night. Four Jackets scored in double-figures and Tech was lead by Aaliyah Whiteside who scored 27 points. Sophomore Zaire O’Neil scored 14 points in 10 minutes vs. North Carolina, including six of those points in the final four minutes of the game to help the Jackets fight back from being down four points. Both Roddreka Rogers and Irene Gari scored 11 points each and Rogers led the rebounding effort with nine boards. Gari sank a 3-pointer that put the Jackets within one point of the Tar Heels in Tech’s momentum changing run.

the last meeting vs. Virginia
The Yellow Jackets traveled to Virginia last year, defeating the Cavaliers, 68-62. Zaire O’Neil recorded a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Antonia Peresson handed out a team-best four assists in the win while Roddreka Rogers grabbed 11 rebounds. Rogers aslo had two assists and nine points. The Yellow Jackets shot 100 percent from the free throw line (14-for-14)on its way to its third ACC win of the season last year.

Miss do-it-all

Senior Aaliyah Whiteside has proved night in and night out that she is an all-around team player. Whiteside scored a career-high 31 points at NC State while leading the Jackets in rebounding with nine boards and in assists with three. She is only the third player in the ACC to score at least 30 points in a game this season. The last game a Yellow Jacket scored at least 30 points was against Virginia on Jan. 25, 2015. This season, she has hit the double digit mark before half time in 11 out of 18 games and has scored in double-figures in every game besides one.

Whiteside leads the Jackets in three stat categories – points (20.9), rebounds (7.6) and assists (3.2). She leads the ACC in scoring and has a league-high 13 20+ point games. Her 7.6 rebounds per game rank eighth in the ACC and her 1.9 steals per game are 14th. Whiteside is also leading the conference in scoring in just ACC games with 23.2 points per game. She is also grabbing 7.6 rebounds per game against ACC opponents which is ninth in the conference and her 2.0 steals per game ranks 13th.