Dec. 28, 2010
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team opened its contest against Mercer looking like it was still full from Christmas dinner, but the Jackets quickly snapped out of it and went on to rout the Mercer Bears, 101-44, Tuesday night at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Tech won its seventh straight game and improved to 10-4 on the season, while Mercer dropped its fifth straight outing and fell to 1-10 on the season.
“One of the goals we had when we started this program was we wanted to be the dominant team in the state,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “We knew we had a challenge in front of us because of Georgia’s tradition, but we tried to schedule as many teams in the state as we could. I felt like tonight was probably one of our best offensive outputs, not only of the year, but since I’ve been here. We’ve played a lot of different types of teams and I don’t know that we’ve ever scored 100 points since I’ve been here.”
“I was really impressed with how we shared the basketball and how unselfish we were,” Joseph added. “You look at someone like Alex Montgomery, who could go for 20 or 30 points in a game like this, but instead she got her teammates involved and was very unselfish. If you look at the stat line, she did a little bit of everything. Most importantly, she had six assists so she was sharing the basketball. I was also impressed with Chelsea Regins. I thought she was a huge force for us inside in the first half. One of the things I’ve really challenged our post players is to take more scoring responsibility because our three guards have pretty much carried us this far.”
Tech failed to score for nearly the first two minutes of the game, but sprung to life and opened the game on a 16-2 run. The Bears were able to cut the Jacket lead to 11 midway through the first half, but Tech answered and extended its lead back to 23 at the break, 51-28, shooting 65.7 percent in the first half. The 51 points Tech scored in the first half were the most the Jackets have put up in the first 20 minutes this season.
As impressive as the offensive showing was in the opening 20 minutes, the trademark Jacket defense was the story as the final 20 began. After limiting Washington to only nine second half points in its last game, Tech held Mercer without a field goal from the 0:57 mark of the first half until just 8:54 remained in the game, a span of 12:03 during which span the Jackets went on a 32-0 run.
While the Jacket defense shut down the Bears in the second half, the Tech offense continued to roll along, as GT put up 50 second half points and surpassed the century mark for the first time since tallying 101 in a double overtime game against Virginia on March 2, 2008, at the ACC Tournament. It is the first time since Joseph took over the helm of the Jackets that Tech scored 100 points in regulation.
Freshman Tyaunna Marshall led four Yellow Jackets in double figures with a career-best 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting in only 19 minutes. Senior Deja Foster notched her fifth career double-double and first of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior Chelsea Regins came off the bench to tally 14 points, one off her career-high of 15, and added five boards and two steals. Junior Sasha Goodlett didn’t start a game she played in for the first time this season, but tossed in 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Tech is back in action on Thursday night when the Tennessee State Tigers come to AMC for a 7 p.m. contest. The Jackets’ next two games, the 30th and 2nd, are designated as kids day where kids under 12 will be admitted free. Fans can listen live at WREK.org, follow live stats through RamblinWreck.com or on Twitter @GTWBB. For more information or to buy tickets, please visit RamblinWreck.com.
POST-GAME NOTES
Georgia Tech (10-4, 0-0) vs. Mercer Bears (1-10, 1-1)
Team
– Season-high 51 points in a half (1st)
– Season-high 101 total points
– Scored at least 100 points for first time since scoring 101 vs. Virginia (3/2/08)
– First time has scored over 100 points in a regulation game under head coach MaChelle Joseph.
– Recorded third highest field goal percentage in program history by shooting 62% (44-71) from the field.
– Season-high 44 field goals made in the game.
– Recorded largest lead when it held a 58 point advantage with 5:25 to go in the 2nd half.
– Outrebounded Mercer 24-8 in first frame.
– Shot an impressive 65.7 % from the field in the first half.
– Opened the second half with a 28-0 run over the first 11 minutes.
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph
– Moves to 139-90 (.607)
Freshman Dawnn Maye
– Finished with career-best eight points
Sophomore Danielle Hamilton-Carter
– Made her first career start
Senior Alex Montgomery
– Has hit a 3-pointer in all but one game this season.
– Has 197 career 3-point field goals
– Tied season-high with six assists.
Freshman Ty Marshall
– Finished with a career-high 25 points.
– Scored in double figures for the ninth time this season.
Junior Chelsea Regins
– Scored in double figures for the second time this season and fifth time in her career.
Senior Deja Foster
– Finished with fifth career double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds)
– Recorded a season-high five assists
Junior Sasha Goodlett
– Finished in double figures for the fifth time this season and 27th time in her career.
–RamblinWreck.com–
