@GTWBB Travels to Pitt Thursday

Feb. 24, 2016

STARTING FIVE

1. Georgia Tech plays its final conference road game on Thursday, traveling to Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. on ESPN3. Richard Musterer will have the call on WREK 91.1.
2. Georgia Tech and Pitt will meet for just the fourth time on Thursday. Pitt leads the all-time series 2-1 but Tech has gone 1-1 against the Panthers since they joined the ACC. Last year the Panthers defeated the Yellow Jackets 75-72 in on overtime game at McCamish Pavilion.
3. Senior Aaliyah Whiteside leads the ACC with her 19.8 points per game which also is 34th in the nation. She is also second on the Jackets in rebounding with 7.3 boards per game, which is 10th in the ACC. She has scored at least 20 points in 16 of 27 games and has five double-doubles this season. She scored her 1,000th career point against Southeastern Louisiana.
4. Senior Roddreka Rogers has been back to her old ways, recording a double-double in three of the past four games. Most recently, Rogers scored 11 points and grabbed a matching 11 rebounds in Tech’s win at Duke. Rogers followed that up with another double-double against Miami with 15 points and 14 rebounds. She has 23 career double-doubles which is first among active players in the ACC.
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 248-160 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 93-102 in her career in ACC play. 

a win would…
– Tie up the series against Pittsburgh at 2-2
– Give Coach Joseph a 2-1 record against the Panthers.
– Be the second-straigh win at Pitt and put the Jackets at 2-0 when playing in Pittsburgh.
– Give the Yellow Jackets an overall ACC record of 195-344 and an 94-102 record in the ACC under Coach Joseph.
– Be the 249th win of Coach Joseph’s career and give her a 249-160 overall record.
– Give Georgia Tech its 624th program win and put Georgia Tech at 624-587 overall over 41 years of women’s basketball.

HISTORIC WIN
Georgia Tech and Duke met for the 68th time in school history and the Blue Devils lead the all-time series, 59-9. Last season the Yellow Jackets snapped a 37-game losing streak that spanned from 1995-2014 after upsetting No. 16/17 Duke, 71-62, at McCamish Pavilion on Feb. 26, 2015.  The Yellow Jackets won for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium since an 86-80 overtime victory on Jan. 29, 1993. The last time the Jackets won at Cameron Indoor Stadium none of the current Yellow Jackets were born yet. This was Coach Joseph’s first win in Durham. She is 2-16 against the Blue Devils.

ANTONIA FOR THREE!
Antonia Peresson made six 3-pointers, including four in the first half, on her way to a career-high 20 points At Duke. Her previous career high was 17 points which scored against Alabama on Dec. 18, 2015. It was the second time this season that Peresson has led the Jackets in scoring. Peresson has made at least three 3-pointers in nine games this season and has hit at least one shot behind the arc in 22 of 26 games. The Yellow Jackets made five 3-pointers in the first half and nine overall. In the past two games, Peresson has shot 52.6 percent (10-19) from behind the arc.

the last meeting vs. pitt
Last season the Yellow Jackets fell in their meeting with Pitt at McCamish Pavilion in OT, 75-72. With the score tied at 64-64, the Panthers went on to outscore Tech 11-8 in the OT period. Roddreka Rogers had one of her signatur double-doubles in the game, scoring 14 points and tallying a team-high 13 rebounds. Aaliyah Whiteside also scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

900 rebounds
With her first rebound against Duke, senior Roddreka Rogers recorded her 900th career rebound becoming just the third Yellow Jacket to grab at least 900 boards in their career. Rogers ranks third on Georgia Tech’s all-time rebounding list with 910 career rebounds.

super scorer
Senior Aaliyah Whiteside led the Yellow Jackets to victory at Clemson, scoring a career-best 31 points for the second time in five games. She also 31 points earlier this season on Jan. 7 in a loss at NC State. Whiteside is averaging a league-high 19.8 points per game in ACC contests and a league-high 19.5 points per game overall. Her 19.8 scoring average ranks 32nd in the nation and her 534 total points are first in the ACC and 27th in the NCAA. Whiteside is one of two ACC players to record two 30+ games this season.

vuckovic named to allstate wbca good works team
Junior Katarina Vuckovic is one of five NCAA Division I women’s basketball student-athletes to be named to the 2016 Allstate WBCA Good Works team. In its fourth year, this prestigious award honors college basketball athletes that have dedicated themselves to bettering the lives of others through giving back to their communities. The Allstate WBCA Good Works Teams® is comprised of 10 student-athletes; five from NCAA® Division I and five from NCAA Divisions II, III and the NAIA.

The Smederevo, Serbia, native has been involved in a number of community service initiatives since her arrival on campus in 2013.  Vuckovic, who is a member of SAAB, traveled to the Dominican Republic this past summer with fellow Yellow Jackets for a service trip.

rogers back to her old ways

Senior Roddreka Rogers has been back to her old ways. She recorded a double-double in three of the past four games – at Syracuse, vs. Miami and at Duke. Rogers has scored in double-figures in four-straight games and has 23 career double-doubles which is first among active players in the ACC. She has led the Jackets in rebounding in 12 games his season. Her 7.4 rebounds per game are 9th in the ACC and her 7.7 rebounds per game in conference play are eighth. She averages 2.8 offensive rebounds per game and 4.6 defensive rebounds per game.