Jan. 31, 2013
THE FLATS – Junior Tyaunna Marshall showed why she was a preseason candidate for the Wooden and Naismith awards as she led Georgia Tech (9-12, 2-8 ACC) to an 89-82 overtime victory against Wake Forest (10-11, 3-6 ACC) Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion with 28 points and 17 rebounds.
The 28 points for Marshall tied her career-high and the 17 rebounds were a new career-best. It is the second straight game in which she recorded a double-double, the 10th of her career and the fifth this year. It is the third straight game against Wake Forest that Marshall has finished with a double-double. Marshall tallied at least 20 points for the 19th time during her career on the Flats and the fifth time this season. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native also led Tech with a career-best seven assists.
An impressive 10 of Marshall’s 17 rebounds came on the offensive end. Georgia Tech, which leads the ACC in offensive rebounds, grabbed 24 boards on their own end and the Jackets turned them into 26 second-chance points.
“One of the things we talked about since she hasn’t been in the starting lineup is that she has to lead this team; I think she’s gotten a little more hungry,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “She got to play with two WNBA first round draft picks and didn’t have to take over a game at the end, didn’t have to be the go-to player at the beginning of the game. Not only are we transitioning 13 different players from last year, we’re transitioning the go-to player and now it’s on her. I think she’s just now getting comfortable and understanding what she has to do. I think over the last four or five games, she’s stepped up and accepted the responsibility and tried to put this team on her back in critical situations. Today you saw it not only offensively but on the boards too.”
Freshman Roddreka Rogers finished with career-highs of 13 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Sophomore Sydney Wallace poured in 23 points, including four 3-pointers, as she moves closer to the Georgia Tech career top 10 in 3-point field goals made. Senior Danielle Hamilton-Carter came off the bench to finish with 11 points and four rebounds.
The game went back-and-forth throughout the entire 45 minutes as the two sides had 11 ties and 17 lead changes.
Wake Forest led for nearly the entire first half as the Deacons took a 34-33 lead into the halftime lockerroom. Tech put together a 13-2 run to end the first half and begin the second as the Jackets took a 39-34 lead on a Marshall jumper at the 17:52 mark.
Tech held on to the lead until a Dearica Hamby layup with 11:47 left in regulation put Wake Forest up 46-45.
For the next four minutes, neither team took a lead bigger than two until Wallace knocked down a 3-pointer to put Tech up 57-53. In the final eight minutes of the second half, Tech’s largest lead would be three, 67-64, on another Wallace 3-pointer with 1:04 to play.
With the Yellow Jackets up 69-67 with 25 seconds to play, Tech turned over the inbounds pass and Wake’s Lakevia Boykin missed a potential game-tying jumper. Jacket freshman Nariah Taylor grabbed the board, one of her six, and was promptly fouled.
Taylor missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and fouled the Deacon’s Asia Williams on the next possession. Williams knocked down two free throws to tie the game at 69 with 6.1 seconds left. The Jackets turned the ball over as they were bringing it up and Wake Forest’s Chelsea Douglas’ 50-foot attempt at the buzzer rimmed out sending the game to overtime.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the first two minutes of the extra period, building an 81-69 lead. Wake continued to chip away and pulled within 81-78 with 37 seconds left. The Demon Deacons began to foul the Jackets and Tech made their free throws to seal the victory.
“I think we made some key plays on the defensive end,” Joseph said. “I think one of the things we figured out was that you don’t win games on the offensive end, you win games on the defensive end in this league. Tonight we won that game because we turned them over on the defensive end and got easy shots.”
Georgia Tech will make its first trip to Charlottesville since Jan. 24, 2010, when the Yellow Jackets take on the Virginia Cavaliers at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2. The game against the Cavaliers can be seen on the ACC Regional Sports Networks or heard on WREK 91.1 FM.
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s basketball on Twitter, @GTWBB, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball, for an inside look at the program.
–RamblinWreck.com–
