Jackets Roll Past Central Michigan, 71-45

THE FLATS – Four Yellow Jackets finished with double-figure scoring totals as Georgia Tech women’s basketball rolled to a 71-45 victory over Central Michigan on Sunday afternoon. Kayla Blackshear added a game-high 10 rebounds, helping lift Tech to 8-2 overall record on the season.

Georgia Tech shot 46.9 percent from the field in the first half, guided by 11 points from Cameron Swartz to hold a 38-23 halftime lead. The Jackets shook off a slow start after leading by three, 15-12, at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Chippewas 23-11 in the second frame. Swartz finished off a four-point play that was followed by an old-fashioned three-point play from Bianca Jackson to give Tech a 29-18 lead at the media timeout. The Jackets would extend their lead to 17 points, 38-21, off a Blackshear bucket for the largest lead of the first half.

A 13-0 run early in the third quarter forced Central Michigan to burn two timeouts as GT pushed its lead out to 51-25 with 1:55 to play. Back-to-back buckets from Inés Noguero, including a triple, in the fourth quarter opened Tech’s largest lead of the game at 64-32 with 7:05 to play. The Yellow Jackets would maintain a 25-plus point advantage the remainder of the game Noguero scored 10 points in the final 10:30 of play.

Kara Dunn finished with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal against Central Michigan. Photo by Danny Karnik

Jackson finished with a team-high 14 points, followed by Swartz with 11 points. Noguero and Kara Dunn added 10 points each to the scoreboard to round out Tech’s quartet in double-figures offensively. Tech finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 92.9 percent (13-14) from the charity stripe. The Jackets outscored the Chippewas in the paint, 32-18, and won the battle on the glass, 38-32, paced by Blackshear’s 10 rebounds.

Georgia Tech forced 22 Central Michigan turnovers, converting the miscues into 21 points. Sydney Harris led CMU with a game-high 21 points, but the Chippewas were held to a 33.3 percent (18-54) shooting clip overall.

Georgia Tech opens Atlantic Coast Conference play next weekend, making the trip to Boston College on Sunday, Dec. 18. Tip is slated for 1 p.m. in Conte Forum and the game will be broadcast on RSN.

Competitive Drive Initiative

In a unified endeavor, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech athletics and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund have come together to accelerate funding for student-athlete scholarships with the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative. The initiative met its initial fundraising goal of $2.5 million in less than six weeks and has extended its target to $3.5 million raised by Dec. 31. Any new gift to the A-T Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund made through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Georgia Tech Foundation, meaning that if the $3.5 million fundraising goal is met, the matching gift would result in a $7 million impact for Georgia Tech athletics. To learn more and to contribute online, visit atfund.org/accelerate.

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