Feb. 24, 2013
THE FLATS – Junior Tyaunna Marshall wasn’t going to let Georgia Tech (13-14, 6-10 ACC) lose to Miami (18-9, 9-7 ACC) on Senior Day at McCamish Pavilion. And she didn’t disappoint as she finished with 37 points to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 68-64 comeback win over the Hurricanes.
Marshall’s 37 points not only set a new career-best but were the fourth-most points scored by a Jacket in a game all-time. The 37 points were the most since Niesha Butler scored 40 against Florida State on Jan. 2, 1999. The 37 points are the most in one game by any player in the ACC this year.
“I thought Ty was unbelievable on both ends of the floor,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I really thought she did a tremendous job, not only offensively but defensively. She got stops when we needed to have stops and she made shots when we needed to make shots. On a day when other people weren’t scoring, I really felt like she did a great job stepping up and making plays. She put us on her back and carried us. I thought Aaliyah Whiteside hit a big three that got us going there at the end and helped us get back in the game and get a lead.”
Georgia Tech fell behind by eight early on and fought back to take a 19-18 lead when Marshall got a steal and a fastbreak layup midway through the first half. Miami re-gained the lead, 24-22, on a Stefanie Yderstrom layup with eight minutes left in the first half. The Hurricanes built their lead back to eight and led by six at halftime.
Miami slowly extended its lead to begin the second half and the Hurricanes grabbed their largest advantage, 15, with 12:21 left to play. Keyona Hayes’ jumper put Miami up 60-47 with 7:41 to go.
“I think at the beginning of the season, being a young, inexperienced team, we might have folded a little bit at that point,” Marshall said. “But since we’ve been playing strong, we’ve been in this position many times, in plenty of games and we just told ourselves we weren’t going to be denied. We wanted a win and we wanted to keep our streak going. We want to win out the rest of the season. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Dawnn Maye got a layup followed by a Marshall jumper with an assist from Maye to cut the deficit to single digits, 60-51.
By the time Marshall found Whiteside for a transition layup with three minutes to play, Tech had cut the Miami lead 60-59 with a 12-0 run. Marshall got a steal and a layup to tie the game at 64 with 39.9 seconds left. She added another steal and layup to give the Jackets a 66-64 lead and Dawnn Maye’s two free throws with 0.2 left sealed the win.
“I knew we had to get a steal with a tie game,” Marshall added. “We had to get a stop. We had a big girl pinned in the corner and she was stuck and the ball, I got a break because the ball was inches from going out of bounds. So I just tipped it to myself and went and got it and made the layup.
“It was a big 38 seconds,” Marshall said about the end of the game. “We knew we had to get scores and stops to win this game and that’s what we did. I’m just proud of everybody on this team, especially the people who were on the court the last 38 seconds.”
Tech held Miami to just one field goal in the final 7:41 and the Jackets finished the game on a 21-4 run. Marshall was the only Jacket with double digit points. Freshman Roddreka Rogers posted her third straight game with double figure rebounds as she hauled in 13.
Georgia Tech will host Clemson in the final home game of the 2012-13 season at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
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–
