@GTWBB Hosts West Georgia in Exhibition Contest

Nov. 1, 2015

The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team kicks of the 2015-16 season Monday by welcoming West Georgia to McCamish Pavilion for an exhibition contest at 7 p.m. All tickets are $2 and all proceeds will benefit Adopt a Family.

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech hosts West Georgia in an exhibition game on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. The two teams are meeting for the sixth time in school history and for the first time since Jan. 30, 1985, a 69-67 GT win.
2. The 2015-16 season marks the 13th under the direction of head coach MaChelle Joseph and the 42nd season of Georgia Tech women’s basketball. The Yellow Jackets return eight letterwinners and four starters from last year’s squad that went 19-15 overall, 7-9 in the ACC and made it to the second round of the WNIT. Coach Joseph welcomes five freshmen and two transfers to this year’s team.
3. Joseph became the all-time winningest coach in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history last year and has a career record of 232-149 and the highest winning percentage in Yellow Jacket history at 60.9 percent.
4. Georgia Tech welcomes seven new faces to this year’s roster — point guard Ciani Cryor (Philadelphia, Pa.), forward Elo Edeferioka (Hofstra/Warri, Nigeria), forward Martine Fortune (Philadelphia, Pa.), guard/forward Irene Gari (UTEP/Oliva, Spain), forward Chelsea Guimaraes (Almada, Portugal) and guard/forward Dejoria Howard (Orangeburg, S.C.) and walk-on Lilliann Andrews (Tallahassee, Fla.). Cryor, Fortune and Howard were ranked as the number #14 recruiting class in the nation by Blue Star Basketball.
5. Georgia Tech will be led this season by rising seniors Roddreka Rogers and Aaliyah Whiteside who both had outstanding junior campaigns. Rogers was a force on the boards last season, leading the Jackets with a 9.9 rebounds per game average and tallying 12 double-doubles. Whiteside moved into a starting role her third season for the Jackets, averaging 13.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game.

the series
Georgia Tech will meet West Georgia for the first time since 1985 and for the third time at home. The two teams met twice in the 1975 to begin their series. West Georgia won the first three meetings before Tech won the next two. West Georgia leads the series, 3-2.

Approaching Milestones
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is set up to become the 29th Yellow Jacket to score 1,000 career points. The Memphis, Tenn., native currently has 936 career points. Fellow senior Roddreka Rogers is on pace to crack into the top 10 of Georgia Tech’s all-time leading rebounder. Rogers has accumulated 709 boards in her three seasons so far. She needs just 52 rebounds to surpass Sasha Goodlett for 10th place on Georgia Tech’s career list. In order to become GT’s all-time leading rebounder, Rogers needs 331 boards this season. She tallied 335 in her junior year.

All Over the World
Georgia Tech’s roster boasts players from seven different states and six different countries. Junior Katarina Vuckovic (Smederevo, Serbia), junior Elo Edeferioka (Warri, Nigeria), sophomore Simina Avram (Brasov, Romania), freshman Chelsea Guimarares (Almada, Portugal), graduate student Irene Gari (Oliva, Spain) and sophomore Antonia Peresson (Pordenone, Italy) are Georgia Tech’s six international student-athletes.

This past summer, Peresson represented her home country at the U20 European Championship in Lanzarote, Spain. Edeferioka competed with the Nigerian National Team during the end of September, beginning of October in the Afrobasket for a chance to qualify for the Olympics. The Nigerian national team took third place which secured them a spot in the Olympic Qualifying tournament next year. Vuckovic, Avram, Guimarares, Gari and Peresson all have had previous playing experience representing their home countries in FIBA European Championships.