@GTWBB Tangles with Alabama Friday

Dec. 17, 2015

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech wraps up its nonconference home slate on Friday, hosting Alabama at 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. The game can be heard on WREK 91.1. Georgia Tech will welcome the Mad Violinist” at halftime for a special performance.
2. This will be the fourth meeting between Georgia Tech and Alabama and the first in 23 seasons. Alabama leads the all-time series, 3-0, and won the lone meeting in Atlanta, 63-56 on Nov. 23, 1982.
3. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is averaging a team-best 20.5 points per game which leads the ACC and is 25th in the nation. She is also Tech’s leading rebounder with 8.4 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 nine of 11 games and has four-straight double-doubles this season. Her most recent double-double against Prairie View A&M was on 14 points and 11 assists.
4. Senior Roddreka Rogers had an impressive offensive game against Prairie View A&M, scoring a career-high 25 points on 11-for-11 shooting. Rogers also grabbed five rebounds.
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 240-152 and the highest winning percentage in Yellow Jacket history at 61.1 percent. She is currently in her 13th season at the helm of the Jackets.

a win would…
– Be the first win against Alabama ever and put the series at 3-1, in favor of the Crimson Tide.
– Keep the Yellow Jackets undefeated at home at 8-0.
– Put the Yellow Jackets at 21-1 in nonconference home games in the past three seasons.
– Be the 241st win of Coach Joseph’s career and her 392nd game at the helm of the Jackets putting her just eight games away from hitting the 400 mark.
– Give Georgia Tech its 616th program win and put Georgia Tech at 616-579 overall over 41 years of women’s basketball.

keeping track of aaliyah
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside recorded her fourth-straight double-double against Prairie View A&M, scoring 14 points and handing out 11 assists against the Panthers. In the contest, she had nine rebounds, putting her one rebound away from a triple-double. Whiteside has four double-doubles this season and nine in her career. This was the seventh time she has led the Yellow Jackets in rebounding. Whiteside has scored at least 21 points in nine out of 11 games this season. Her nine 20 point games are the most by any player in the ACC. She is averaging a team-high 20.5 points per game. Whiteside has scored at least 20 points in 16 games in her career. She has scored at least 10 points in 18 straight games, dating back to last season. 

rogers perfect from the floor
Senior Roddreka Rogers did not miss a field goal against Prairie View A&M, shooting 100 percent (11-for-11) from the floor and sinking three of her four free throw attempts on her way to a career-high 25 points. Rogers’ previous career high was 20 points which she scored against Clemson last season on March 4, 2015 in the ACC Tournament. This was only the second time in her career and second time this season that Rogers has led the team in scoring. Rogers scored 25 points in just 24 minutes of action and grabbed five rebounds. Her 64.4 FG% is first in the ACC and eighth in the NCAA.

sharing is caring
Against Prairie View A&M, the Yellow Jackets handed out a season-high 28 assists. The 28 assists are tied for the most by an ACC team this season and are tied for seventh on Tech’s individual game records. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside’s 11 assists against the Panthers are the most by an ACC player this season. Tech is averaging 16.8 assists per game which ranks fourth in the conference.

welcome back zaire
Sophomore Zaire O’Neil made her first appearance this season against Samford after recovering from a knee injury that happened at the end of last season. O’Neil entered into the game with 2:00 minutes left in the first period, scoring four points to help the Yellow Jackets to a 13-10 advantage. She finished the game with six points, one assist and one steal. It was also O’Neil’s 20th birthday. In two apperances, she is averaging 5.0 points per game and 1.0 rebounds per game.

a different double-double
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside recorded her fourth-straight double-double aginst Prairie View A&M, but her first career points/assists double-double. Whiteside recorded 14 points while handing out a career-high 11 assists and was one rebound short of recording a triple-double with nine rebounds. Whiteside’s points/assists double-double was the first since Dawnn Maye recorded one against Florida State on Jan. 3, 2013 with 11 points and 12 assists. Whiteside’s 11 assists were the most since Maye handed out 10 against Boston College on March 3, 2013.

raining 3’s
Against USC Upstate, 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.  Georgia Tech set the school record against West Carolina on November 10, 2013 when the Jackets made 13 3-pointers.

The Yellow Jackets are shooting 30.3 percent from behind the arc as a team and averaging 6.3 made 3-pointers a game. Sophomore Antonia Peresson has made a team-high 22 3-pointers while graduate student Irene Gari leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage at 44.4 percent (12-for-27).

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 779 career rebounds, which puts her in ninth on the all-time career list. She needs 22 more rebounds to tie Regina Tate (1988-2002) and LeeAnn Woodhull (1980-83) for seventh with 801. Rogers is 261 rebounds away from becoming the all-time career leader in rebounds.

double-figure scoring streak
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside has scored at least 21 points in every game this season besides two and began the season scoring 20+ points in eight straight games. Her nine 20 points games  are the most by any player in the ACC. She is averaging a team-high 20.5 points per game. Whiteside has scored at least 20 points in 16 games in her career. She has led the Jackets in scoring in eight games this season.

Whiteside has also recorded four-straight double-doubles, averaging 18.5 points per game, 11.3 rebounds per game and 5.8 assists over the past four games.

elite company

Senior Aaliyah Whiteside is the top-scorer in the ACC, averaging 20.5 points per game. Her scoring average is 25th in the nation. Whiteside is the only player in the ACC to rank in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Along with her 20.5 points per game, Whiteside is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game (3rd in the ACC), 4.0 assists per game (7th in the ACC) and 2.0 steals per game (t-11th in the ACC).