Feb. 1, 2012
The No. 24/22 Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (16-6, 6-3 ACC) will attempt to finish a season sweep of the NC State Wolfpack (14-8, 4-5 ACC) Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.
Sophomore Tyaunna Marshall led the Yellow Jackets to a 76-66 win at NC State to open ACC play this season. Marshall scored 22 points as Tech won its sixth straight game. Fellow sophomore Dawnn Maye opened the game hot and had double digit points by halftime and finished with a career-high 17 points. Seniors Metra Walthour and Chelsea Regins each finished with 11 points. Georgia Tech has won two straight against the Pack and nine of the last 13.
Tech won its third straight game with a 63-54 win at Clemson in its last contest. Marshall led the Jackets with 17 points, while Sasha Goodlett finished with her seventh double-double of the year, 13 points and 10 rebounds.
NC State got a game-high 20 points from Kody Burke and the Pack snapped a two-game slide with a 65-53 win at Virginia Tech. Bonae Holston and Myisha Goodwin-Coleman each added 12 points for NC State.
Season Sweep: Georgia Tech will be trying for its first season sweep of an ACC team when it hosts NC State. Last season, the Yellow Jackets swept two of the three teams they faced twice in the regular season (Clemson and UNC). This year, the Jackets face five teams twice during ACC regular season play and has the possibility of sweeping four of them.
In The Rankings: Georgia Tech is ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll for the first time this year. The Yellow Jackets are 24th in the AP and moved up to 22 from 24 in last week’s coaches poll.
Georgia Tech has been ranked by the AP in 27 weeks all-time and 23 of those have come under head coach MaChelle Joseph. Tech has been ranked in the coaches poll 11 weeks. This week marks only the ninth time in which the Yellow Jackets have been ranked in both polls at the same time.
The Yellow Jackets own a 34-18 all-time record as a ranked team.
Joseph Is A Legend: Head Coach MaChelle Joseph was voted as one of Purdue’s “Legends of Mackey” as part of the Boilermakers’ expansion and renovation of Mackey Arena. The 12 men’s and 12 women’s Legends were voted on by fans in a two-month online voting process.
Joseph was a first team All-American in 1992 and graduated as not only the school’s but the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer among male and female players with 2,405 points. She still ranks first in scoring at Purdue and is fourth on the Big Ten list. Joseph also finished her career at the top of the Purdue and Big Ten career assists list with 628. She is still first all-time at Purdue and is now seventh in the Big Ten.
Women Out Front: Georgia Tech is will host its eighth annual Women Out Front Celebration Thursday night against NC State. The class of 2012 includes Rashan Ali, Jeni Bogdan, Jane Chumley Ammons, Lisa Dwyer, Valerie Montgomery Rice, Gail Potts, LaChina Robinson and LaTonya Story. Women Out Front is designed to recognize women who have made a significant impact in their fields in Atlanta or in women’s basketball.
Tech will also be celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day where fans can buy $2 tickets through RamblinWreck.com or by calling 888-TECH-TIX.
Golden Arches: Three of Georgia Tech’s four fall signees this year have been selected as nominees for the 2012 McDonald’s All-American Game to be held March 28 at the United Center in Chicago. Future Yellow Jackets Aaliyah Whiteside (Memphis, Tenn.), Brittany Jackson (Sebastian, Fla.) and Breana McDonald (Lithonia, Ga.) will find out if they are selected for the team February 9 in a live television special at 5 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Handy Helpers: Sophomore Dawnn Maye (4th, 4.2) and senior Metra Walthour (5th, 4.1) are the only pair of teammates to rank in the top five in assists per game in the ACC in all games.
Getting Good: Senior Sasha Goodlett is one of only three players to rank in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Goodlett is sixth in scoring (15.3 ppg), 10th in rebounding (7.5) and fourth in blocked shots (1.7). North Carolina’s Chay Shegog and Duke’s Elizabeth Williams are the other two.
