Jan. 4, 2010
ATLANTA – The 20th-ranked Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball team (13-2), who has won eight straight games, will open Atlantic Coast Conference play Wednesday, Jan. 6 when it travels to No. 7/7 North Carolina (12-1). Tip-off at Carmichael Auditorium is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Gameday CentralGame #16 Date: Wednesday, January 6, 2010Opponent: No. 7/7 North Carolina Tar HeelsTip-Off: 7:00 p.m. ETSite: Carmichael Auditorium (6,822)TV: NoneRadio: WREK 91.1 FM/www.WREK.orgTalent: Richard Musterer (pbp) and LaChina Robinson (analyst)Live Stats: www.RamblinWreck.com via GametrackerTickets: All tickets $10
GEORGIA TECH VS. NORTH CAROLINA
• North Carolina leads the all-time series 50-12 and has won 13 of last 14 games.
• The Yellow Jackets are searching for first win at UNC since an 81-62 victory on Jan. 17, 2002.
• The Jackets picked up their first win over UNC since 2002 with a 66-62 win in Atlanta last year.
• Tech is 141-322 all-time against teams in the ACC.
• This will mark the first of two meetings in 2010 for the Jackets and Tar Heels.
ACC HERE WE COME
The Yellow Jackets will kickoff the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of there schedule this Wednesday when they play at North Carolina. Tech will then host Clemson on Monday, Jan. 11 in a game that will be televised by the ACC Regional Sports Network and will begin at 7 p.m.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Alex Montgomery, an All-ACC third team member a year ago, is only 126 points shy of becoming the 23rd player in Yellow Jacket history to reach this milestone. Montgomery scored 335 points her freshman season and added 410 as a sophomore.
MONTGOMERY KNOCKS THEM DOWN FROM LONG RANGE
Alex Montgomery has become one of the most prolific three-point shooters in Georgia Tech history. She has knocked down 131 in her career, which is good for sixth all-time. She is shooting .363 (8th all-time) from three-point range for her career. In her first six games this season, Montgomery has shot 27-66 (.409) from beyond the arc. If eligible (she has not played in 75% of team’s games), Montgomery would ranked second in the ACC in 3-pointers made this season.
SENIOR CLASS LOOKING FOR MORE WINS
The 2009-10 senior class, Brigitte Ardossi and Tiffany Blackmon, have been part of 78 wins in their three plus seasons on the Flats, which is good for second all-time. The Jackets need two more wins in 2009-10 for this years seniors to become the winningest senior class in the history of the women’s basketball program. Last years seniors hold the current record with 79 victories.
ARDOSSI THE AUSSIE
Senior Brigitte Ardossi, if nothing else, has been extremely consistent over her three-plus seasons on the Flats. The Melbourne, Australia native has played in all 112 games since she came to Tech and has started 64 of them. As a junior, she averaged 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting a team-best 81.9 percent from the free-throw line.
This season, coach Joseph expects big things from her senior “enforcer”. She is putting up 13.3 points and 6.5 boards per game so far and has connected on 41-51 (.804) free-throw attempts in a career-high 27.2 minutes a game. Over the last seven games, Ardossi has shot 61.9 percent from the field (44-71). She also recored her second career double-double (17 pts, 11 reb) in win at Georgia State.
DEJA VU – FOSTER SHOWING IMPROVEMENT ON PREVIOUS SEASON
Just like 2008-09, junior Deja Foster has shown improvements on her previous season. Though her scoring average has not jumped eight point like the previous season, she has put up career-highs in points (10.1), rebounds (6.5) and assists (3.7) over the first 15 games of the season. Foster has notched a pair of double-doubles this season and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds in win over Army.
Foster has played so well this season, she is currently one of only two players (Shenise Johnson, Miami) in the ACC to rank in the top 25 of scoring, top 15 of rebounding and top 10 of assists.
REBOUNDING WITH REGINS
Sophomore Chelsea Regins is known to be very active when she gets on the court and it showed when she grabbed a career-high 16 boards to go with her 11 points against Florida Gulf Coast. She did not only record her first career double-double, it was also the first time a Yellow Jackets has recorded 16 rebounds in a game since Sonja Mallory had 16 rebounds against Wake Forest on Jan. 31, 2003. She is pulling down 4.9 rebounds a game so far this season. Regins is also scoring 5.3 points a contest for Tech.
THE `MO’TER IS RUNNING
While junior Alex Montgomery was out with an injury, sophomore Mo Bennett filled in admirably for the All-ACC wing. Bennett has shown her ability to score (career-high 21 points vs. Winthrop) and the ability to rebound (career-high 13 rebounds vs. FGCU). Bennett put it all together in a win at Kennesaw State with her first career double-double (23 pts, 11 reb). She is scoring 9.1 a game and is grabbing 5.2 rebounds a game. She also has recorded 26 steals and 37 assists in 15 games.
WALTHOUR CONTROLS THE OFFENSE
Sophomore Metra Walthour has become a real leader on the court with the basketball. Walthour currently leads the ACC in Assist/Turnover Ratio with a 2.5 ratio (52 assists to 21 turnovers), which is 0.6 points better than the second ranked player. She is averaging 3.5 assists and 4.3 points in a team-high 29.9 minutes per game.
94 FEET WITH THE JACKETS
Over the past two seasons, Georgia Tech has led the NCAA in steals per game. This has to be credited to Coach Joseph’s pressing defense. Joseph will press for 40 minutes with numerous pressing schemes to keep the offense offbalance. Joseph wants her team to “be an impressive running defensive team that creates opportunities for the offense.” The team has totaled 890 steals the past two years, good for 13.9 per game.
The Yellow Jackets have started 2009-10 with 163 steals (10.9 pg) in the first 15 games.
TECH ENTERS SEVENTH SEASON UNDER COACH JO
Coach MaChelle Joseph, who is entering her seventh season at Georgia Tech, has already recorded the second-most wins in Tech history. Joseph has registered a 119-78 (.604) record and is the fastest coach in school history to win 100. She has led Tech to its three straight 20-win seasons and three straight NCAA Tournaments, both firsts for the Yellow Jacket program. Joseph registered her 100th victory on Feb. 1, 2009 against Clemson.
MARCH TO WIN No. 500
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball program is nine wins shy of the programs 500th all-time victory. Over the 35-plus seasons of women’s basketball on the Flats, Tech is 494-505 (.495) in 999 games. Since the 2000-01 season, Georgia Tech has won 168 games (34 percent of all wins).
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RANKINGS
Georgia Tech is ranked 20th in the Jan. 4th Associated Press poll and was receiving votes in the Dec. 29th USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.
Tech has earned a national ranking for the 12th week in the last three years under head coach MaChelle Joseph. The program has only been ranked for 17 weeks in its entire history. Tech, who was ranked 19th in the preseason Associated Press poll, earned a ranking the preseason for the first time and erned its highest-ever ranking.
