March 1, 2012
The 15th-ranked Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (22-7) enters the ACC Tournament with a first-round bye after finishing the regular-season with a school-record 12 conference wins. The Yellow Jackets will face the North Carolina Tar Heels (22-10) at 11 a.m. Friday on the ACC Regional Sports Network (Fox Sports South in Atlanta). The Tar Heels rolled past Clemson 90-51 Thursday morning in the first round.
The Yellow Jackets defeated North Carolina 56-54 February 12 in Chapel Hill and swept the season series against Clemson, including a 62-50 win February 26 on Senior Day in Atlanta.
The Tech senior class will have a chance to set the program record for most wins by one class on Friday. Currently, the 2012 class is tied with the 2011 class with 91 career victories.
Last season, the Jackets advanced to the semifinals with wins over Virginia Tech and Maryland. It marked the first time in school history that Tech has made the conference tournament semis in consecutive seasons.
This is the third time Tech has been the four seed in the ACC Tournament, having also been the fourth-seed in 1993 and 2010. In `93, the Jackets fell to fifth-seed Clemson in the quarterfinals and in 2010, top-seed Duke topped the Jackets in the semifinals.
Goin’ Streakin’: Georgia Tech enters the ACC Tournament with the longest winning streak of any conference team, having won its last five games. The Yellow Jackets have also won nine of their last 10 outings, and 11 of the last 13.
More ACC-olades: Senior Sasha Goodlett and sophomore Tyaunna Marshall were both named to the 2012 All-ACC Second Team announced by the league Feb. 27. It is Goodlett’s first league honor and Marshall’s third as she was named All-ACC Third Team and ACC All-Freshman Team in 2011. The publication College Sports Madness, which names all-conference teams based on position, tabbed Marshall to its first team and Goodlett to the third team.
Yellow Jacket rookie Sydney Wallace was named ACC All-Freshman in 2012. Wallace became the eighth Jacket tabbed to the All-Freshman Team and the fourth under head coach MaChelle Joseph.
Second Time Legend: Former Yellow Jacket head coach Bernadette McGlade is Georgia Tech’s 2012 ACC Legend. McGlade is the first woman honored by the ACC as a Legend as both a player and a coach. She was Tech’s first full-time female head coach and later served as an associate athletics director.
McGlade led Tech to its first winning season when the Jackets finished the 1986-87 season with a 14-13 mark and also recorded the Yellow Jackets’ first win over a ranked team when Tech defeated No. 13 Maryland 81-80 in 1988.
Program-Bests: The Yellow Jackets have set or tied several program-bests this season. The 12 ACC wins are the most by any Tech team and the Jackets tie for third place eclipses the 2010 squad’s fourth-place finish as the best in school history. The 22 regular-season wins tie the school-record for the most regular-season wins.
Double Digit ACC Wins: With the win over Boston College, the Yellow Jackets set the school record for most ACC wins in a season with 10. Tech extended the record to 12 wins with the victory over Clemson. The 2006-07 team was the first to record nine league wins and the 2010-11 team equaled the mark.
ACC Finish: Georgia Tech had never finished higher than sole possession of fourth place, which the Jackets did in 2010, in the ACC standings prior to this year’s tie for third place.
Sixth Sense: The win over Boston College secured Georgia Tech’s sixth consecutive 20-win season. The victory over the Eagles gave the Jackets nine 20-win seasons all-time with six coming under head coach MaChelle Joseph. The 1977-78 team won 23 games in the AIAW days. Joseph’s predecessor, Agnus Berenato, won at least 20 games in 1991-92 and 2002-03. The 1991-92 team finished the season as NWIT champions.
The Yellow Jackets are also in contention for their sixth straight NCAA Tournament berth. Should Tech play in this year’s NCAA Tournament, it would mark the eighth trip in school history, six of which have come under Joseph.
