Dec. 30, 2005
ATLANTA – Janie Mitchell recorded her team-leading fourth career double-double and Chioma Nnamaka scored 16 points to lead Georgia Tech (10-1) to a 76-46 victory over Alabama State (2-4) in first round action at the Georgia Tech/Atlanta Marriott NW Holiday Invitational Friday afternoon at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
With the win, the Yellow Jackets advance to the championship game, which will be played at 1:30 on New Year’s Eve at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Alabama State will face the loser of Friday afternoon’s UMass-Brown matchup in the consolation game, which will be played at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Jackets jumped out to a 21-1 lead against the Hornets, including holding Alabama State scoreless for the first 5:25 of the game. The visitors then played even with Tech for the remainder of the half, outscoring Tech 22-19 to close out the frame. The Jackets shot over 46 percent from the field in the half while holding the hornets to just 22.6 percent.
After Alabama State pulled within 14 points at 13:16 in the second half, the Jackets hit three-consecutive three-pointers, including two by Jacqua Williams, to extend Tech’s lead to 54-33 with 11:41 remaining.
Williams recorded her third double-figure scoring game of the season (13 points) while converting on 4-of-6 from the charity stripe, and Nnamaka led the Jackets with four three-pointers in the game and had her highest scoring output since tying her season-high of 22 points seven games ago at Georgia State.
Mitchell recorded her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the game, while sophomore point guard Jill Ingram set a new career-high with seven assists against the Hornets.
Latille Ross led Alabama State with 15 points, converting on 6-of-8 from the field, including going 3-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc.
UPDATE
The Yellow Jackets will play UMass in the championship game at 1:30 Saturday after the Minutewomen were 70-60 winners over Brown in the second game of the first round of the Georgia Tech/Atlanta Marriott NW Holiday Invitational.
