@GTWBB Back in Action vs. Samford

Dec. 11, 2015

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech continues its four-game homestand, hosting Samford on Sunday at 2 p.m. All children 18 and under will be admitted for free in honor of Tech’s Kids Day and the game can be heard on WREK 91.1.
2. This will be the third meeting between Georgia Tech and Samford and the first since 2004. Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 2-0. Both games in the series were played in Atlanta.
3. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is averaging a team-best 20.9 points per game which leads the ACC and is 21st in the nation. She is also Tech’s leading rebounder with 8.1 boards per game. She became the 29th Yellow Jacket to score 1,000 career points against Southeastern Louisiana. She has scored at least 21 points in eight of nine games and has two double-doubles this season.
4. Georgia Tech tied a school record against USC Upstate after making 13 3-pointers. Five Yellow Jackets made at least one 3-pointer while both Irene Gari and Antonia Peresson each made four 3-pointers each.
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 238-152 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.

a win would…
– Be the third-straight against Samford and put the Jackets in a 3-0 series lead.
– Keep the Yellow Jackets undefeated at home at 6-0.
– Put the Yellow Jackets at 19-1 in nonconference home games in the past three seasons.
– Be the 239th win of Coach Joseph’s career and her 390th game at the helm of the Jackets putting her just 10 games away from hitting the 400 mark.
– Give Georgia Tech its 614th program win and put Georgia Tech at 614-579 overall over 41 years of women’s basketball.

raining 3’s
Georgia Tech sank 13 shots from behind the arc, going 13-for-28 from behind the 3-point line, which tied Georgia Tech’s record of most 3-pointers made in a game against USC Upstate.  Georgia Tech set the school record against West Carolina on November 10, 2013 when the Jackets made 13 3-pointers.

Five Yellow Jackets made at least one 3-pointer while graduate student Irene Gari made a career-best four shots. She went 4-for-8 from behind the three point line and scored 16 points against the Spartans and led the team with a career-high five steals. Sophomore Antonia Peresson also went 4-for-8 from behind the three point line one her way to 12 points. She also added three assists.

roddreka “rebounds” rogers
Senior Roddreka Rogers cracked the top 10 on Georgia Tech’s all-time career rebounding list with her five boards against Indiana. Rogers now has 773 career rebounds, which puts her in ninth on the all-time career list. She needs 28 more rebounds to tie Regina Tate (1988-2002) and LeeAnn Woodhull (1980-83) for seventh with 801. Rogers is 267 rebounds away from becoming the all-time career leader in rebounds.

double-figure scoring streak
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside’s streak of scoring at least 20 points was extended against the Hoosiers after scoring 22 points. Whiteside has scored at least 21 points in every game this season, which is the most by any player in the ACC. She is averaging a team-high 21.6 points per game. Whiteside has scored at least 20 points in 15 games in her career. She has led the Jackets in scoring in seven games this season.

Whiteside’s double-double was the first of the season and the sixth of her career. Her 15 rebounds were a career-high, beating her previous career-high of 12 which occurred against Lipscomb on Dec. 29, 2014.

elite company
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is the top-scorer in the ACC, averaging 20.9 points per game. Her scoring average is 21st in the nation. Whiteside is the only player in the ACC to rank in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding and steals. Along with her 20.9 points per game, Whiteside is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game (4th in the ACC) and 1.9 steals per game (t-14th in the ACC).

gari finds her groove

Graduate student Irene Gari has made an impact on the Yellow Jackets after transfering to Tech from UTEP prior to this season. Gari has scored in double-figures in three games so far, tallying a season-best 24 points against Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 18. Against USC Upstate, Gari scored 16 points on four made 3-pointers and had five steals. Gari leads the Yellow Jackets in 3-point field goal percentage, 47.8 percent (11-for-23), which ranks third in the ACC.

During three seasons at UTEP, Gari averaged 5.3 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game and shot 26.3 percent from behidn the arc. This season she is averaging 7.9 points per game and 2.0 rebounds per game.