THE FLATS – A complete game on the hardwood saw Georgia Tech women’s basketball surge to an 87-40 rout of Charleston Southern Thursday night inside McCamish Pavilion.
The Yellow Jackets (2-1, 0-0 ACC) ran right out of the gate with a 25-8 first quarter before allowing just 32 more points the rest of the way and holding the Buccaneers (0-4, 0-0 Big South) to 23.4% from the floor.
Offensively, five Yellow Jackets found themselves in double digits scoring-wise, led by a career-high from Talayah Walker (19). She was joined by Catherine Alben (17) – who was on the court facing her former team – Savannah Samuel (13), Jada Crawshaw (10) and La’Nya Foster (10). All but Walker entered the court off the bench Thursday.
Brianna Turnage posted a career-high in rebounds (13) for her third-straight game in double figures in the category to open the season. She was joined by D’Asia Thomas-Harris (10) who recorded her second career game with at least 10 boards. Turnage also led the team in assists with a career-high-tying six.
The Georgia Tech bench outscored the opponent (56-40) for the second time in 2025-26. The wire-to-wire victory for Tech saw the home team turn the ball over a season-low seven times while attributing 24 assists to 34 made baskets. Tech also played a mostly clean game, sending Charleston Southern to the free throw line just twice. The Jackets led by as much as 50 in the late stages of the fourth.
Tech’s three-point prowess was also on full display, with the team setting a season-high for made three’s (10) and three-point percentage (45.5%).
FIRST HALF
Walker scored the game’s opening points just a few seconds in to get the lead going for Tech. The Bucs answered with a jumper at the 8:50 mark before the Jackets rattled off 13-straight points including back-to-back three’s from Inés Noguero and Alben. Charleston Southern responded with a layup and trey to get back within 10, 17-7, but eight Tech points (six from Alben), helped the Jackets to a 25-8 advantage after one.
The first points of the quarter came on a three-pointer from Foster to give the Jackets a 20-point lead, 28-8. The Buccaneer offense managed just one basket in the low-scoring first half of the second quarter. Walker drilled a three with four left in the half to get Tech ahead by 24, 34-10. Charleston Southern managed just a three-pointer the rest of the period as Alben added four points of the Yellow Jackets’ eight to end the frame. Tech went into the halftime locker room up 41-13.
Alben led Tech with 13 points while Turnage grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
SECOND HALF
Free throws were the first points of the second half, courtesy of Walker. A layup by Turnage increased the lead to a game-high 30-point lead, 45-15, two minutes into the third. Crawshaw and Alben added baskets to get it out to 49-15 before CSU broke through with a trey at the 6:07 mark. Walker made back-to-back buckets – the second being a three – to extend the score to 54-21. She added another moments later to answer a Buc trey, now 57-21 with four minutes left. Samuel then drilled back-to-back three’s, giving Tech a 63-21 lead. Foster added another three in the final two minutes as Georgia Tech rolled into the fourth up 67-24.
Foster scored first in the fourth before Charleston Southern went on their best run of the night at 7-0. Tech then responded with six-straight points to get back ahead by over 40, 75-31. Charleston Southern added another late trey before heading into the 4:17 media timeout. Crawshaw added six more points to get into double figures as Georgia Tech cruised to the 87-40 victory.