Jan. 12, 2014
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball (11-5, 1-2 ACC) lost its first conference road game of the season, falling at Syracuse (12-4, 1-2 ACC), 76-70, on Sunday afternoon.
“I thought you saw today a matchup between two evenly matched teams,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I thought it was a battle for 40 minutes. I didn’t think we did a very good job of getting to Brianna Butler, finding one of the best 3-point shooters in the ACC. I think she did a very good job stepping up for her team.”
Senior Tyaunna Marshall led the way for the Yellow Jackets on offense, scoring 24 points and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and dishing out a team-high five assists. This was the third time out of four games that Marshall has scored at least 20 points. It was the seventh time this season that Upper Marlboro, Md. native has scored more than 20 points and the 31st time in her career.
This afternoon’s game against the Orange marks the first time a player has led the Jackets in scoring, rebounds and assists since Marshall accomplished the same feat against Virginia Tech on Feb. 8, 2013.
Three other Jackets also scored in double-figures. Sophomore Nariah Taylor scored 13 points while pulling down six rebounds. Freshman Kaela Davis had 11 points and a steal while senior Dawnn Maye scored 10 and added three assists.
The game was a battle from start to finish between the two teams in their second overall meeting. The game featured 12 lead changes and six tied scores.
An 8-2 run that began at 14:59 in the second half broke a 46-46 tie and pulled the Jackets on top by six, 54-48. Marshall continued to lead the Jackets on offense, scoring five-points in a row and Tech took a 61-52 lead at 8:55.
The Orange then used a 12-0 run to regain the lead, at the 3:29 and was up, 67-63. It was Syracuse’s first lead since the 18:23 mark in the second half. Back-to-back layups from Taylor and Marshall had the score at 67 all.
Butler, who made seven 3-pointers against the Jackets, knocked in a shot from behind the arc to break the tie, 70-67 with 1:28 remaining. The Orange then used perfect 6-for-6 free throw shooting to keep the lead. Davis added a 3-pointer for the Jackets, but Tech’s bid for a comeback fell short and the Jackets lost its second conference game of the season.
The Orange took a quick lead at the start of the game and held onto it until the 15:49 mark. The Jackets took their first lead of the game when Taylor made the first shot of two free throws. She came up short on the second shot, but Marshall was there to pull down the rebound and bank it in for two points to put the Jackets up, 7-4.
The Jackets countered an Orange 6-0 run with a 6-0 run of their own to fight to a 15-14 lead. Marshall had the go ahead layup at 10:53 after she intercepted a pass at midcourt and scored on the fast break.
The Jackets would extend the run to 17-5 to take 26-19 advantage. Maye contributed six points during the end of the run.
Georgia Tech went into the locker room up two points, 32-30, at halftime. Marshall had a strong first half, scoring 12 points in the first 20 minutes of play.
The Orange caught up to the Jackets in the beginning of the second half, tying the game at 40. Taylor hit two back-to-back jumpers to put Tech ahead by four, 44-40, at 16:42. From then on, the score stayed close as the two teams fought for the victory.
Georgia Tech returns home for its next contest against Wake Forest on Thursday. The Yellow Jackets and Demon Deacons tip off at 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion
–RamblinWreck.com–
