Dec. 21, 2009
ATLANTA – The 24th-ranked Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball team (9-2) will put its four-game winning streak on the line when it travels across town to Georgia State (7-1) Tuesday. Tip-off at the Georgia State Sports Arena is slated for 12 p.m.
Gameday CentralGame #12 Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2009Opponent: Georgia State PanthersSite: Georgia State Sports Arena (3,400)Tip-Off: 12:00 p.m. ETRadio: WREK 91.1 FM/www.WREK.orgTalent: Richard Musterer (pbp) and LaChina Robinson (analyst)Live Stats: www.RamblinWreck.comTickets: All tickets are $4
TECH VS. GEORGIA STATE
• Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Georgia State, 21-11.
• Tech has won 10 straight and 15 of the last 16 in the series.
• The Jackets are 14-3 all-time against opponents in the Colonial Athletic Association.
• Tech is 1-1 against teams from Georgia this season.
NINE DAYS OF DECEMBER
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph has never been shy at scheduling tough opponents but this year she has also scheduled one of the toughest stretches of basketball. Her Yellow Jackets are in the midst of five games in nine days beginning with the Mississippi Valley State game last Sunday. The Jackets are 4-0 so far with road game across town at Georgia State on Tue., Dec. 22 to close out the stretch. Tech will have earned its small six-day break for the Christmas holiday. Tech will then return to the road to travel to Miami for the FIU Holiday Tournament from Dec. 28-29.
NEXT UP: FIU HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
The Yellow Jackets will take a few days of for Christmas and then return to action on Mon., Dec. 28 against Hampton in the first round of the FIU Holiday Tournament at 7 p.m., in Miami, Fla. Tech will face either Florida International or Bryant in the second round game of the tournament on Tues., Dec. 29.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Alex Montgomery, an All-ACC third team member a year ago, is only 177 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 120 in her career, which is good for sixth all-time. She is shooting .357 (8th all-time) from three-point range for her career. In her first six games this season, Montgomery has shot 16-41 (.390) from beyond the arc.
SENIOR CLASS LOOKING FOR MORE WINS
The 2009-10 senior class, Brigitte Ardossi and Tiffany Blackmon, have been part of 74 wins in their three seasons on the Flats, which is good for second all-time. The Jackets need six 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 108 games since she came to Tech and has started 60 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 12.5 points and 6.1 boards per game so far and has connected on 23-30 (.767) free-throw attempts in a career-high 26.5 minutes a game. Over the last three games, Ardossi has shot 81.5 percent from the field (22-27).
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 (11.3), rebounds (6.0) and assists (3.9) over the first 11 games of the season. Foster notched her second career double-double (21 pts, 11 reb) in Tech’s 87-69 win over Oregon.
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 5.6 rebounds a game so far this season. Regins is also scoring 5.5 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 10.1 a game and is grabbing 5.8 rebounds a game. She also has recorded 20 steals in 11 games.
GOING OVER 80 (POINTS) IS NOT A FELONY
Georgia Tech is known more for its defense than its offense but over a three-game stretch from Dec. 13-18, the Yellow Jackets topped 80 points three times in three straight games (89 vs. Miss. Valley St, 87 vs. Oregon, 94 vs. Kennesaw St). It was the first time a Tech team accomplished this feat since scoring over 80 points in three straight games from Nov. 18-24, 2001.
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 119 steals (10.8 pg) in the first eight 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 115-78 (.596) 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 10 wins shy of the programs 500th all-time victory. Over the 35-plus seasons of women’s basketball on the Flats, Tech is 490-505 (.493) in 995 games. Since the 2000-01 season, Georgia Tech has won 164 games (34 percent of all wins).
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RANKINGS
Georgia Tech is ranked 24th in this week’s Associated Press poll and receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.
Tech was ranked 19th in the preseason Associated Press poll, which the 10th week in the last three years the Jackets have been ranked under head coach MaChelle Joseph. The program has only been ranked for 15 weeks in its entire history. This also marks the first time a Yellow Jacket team has been ranked in a preseason poll.
