Dec. 19, 2009
ATLANTA – The 25th-ranked Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball team (8-2), who is riding a three-game winning streak, returns home to face Arizona (5-2) Sunday. Tip-off at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum in the Henry F. McCamish Basketball Complex is slated for 1 p.m.
Gameday CentralGame #11 Date: Sunday, December 20, 2009Opponent: Arizona WildcatsSite: Alexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191)Tip-Off: 1:00 p.m. ETRadio: WREK 91.1 FM/www.WREK.orgTalent: Richard Musterer (pbp) and Kurt Hoyt (analyst)Live Stats: www.RamblinWreck.comTickets: All tickets are $2
SANTA BUZZ IN ATTENDANCE SUNDAY
Georgia Tech fans will have the chance to take a photo with Santa Buzz prior to Sunday’s game. Santa Buzz will be in the Alexander Memorial Coliseum concourse from 12 – 12:45 and available for free photos. These photos will be posted on RamblinWreck.com for fans to select and receive their free digital copy.
TECH VS. ARIZONA
• Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with Arizona, 1-0.
• The two teams will meet for the first time since Tech defeated the Wildcats, 65-59, on Jan. 7, 1985.
• The Jackets will play its second opponent from the Pac-10 in a week.
• Tech is 3-1 against Pac-10 opponents including its 87-69 over Oregon last Wednesday.
NEXT UP: GEORGIA STATE
The Yellow Jackets will travel across town to face Georgia State Tuesday at noon in the GSU Sports Arena. Tech is 21-11 all-time against the Panthers and have 10 straight in the series, including a 74-56 win last 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 3-0 so far with a home game against Arizona on Sun., Dec. 20 and then a cross-town game at Georgia State on Tue., Dec. 22. 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.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Alex Montgomery, an All-ACC third team member a year ago, is only 194 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 117 in her career, which is good for sixth all-time. She is shooting .353 (8th all-time) from three-point range for her career. In her first four games this season, Montgomery has shot 13-36 (.361) from beyond the arc.
MONTGOMERY RETURNS TO ACTION
Junior Alex Montgomery, who has been recovering from a knee injury all summer, made her first appearance of the season at the LIU Turkey Classic. She has played in five of the Jackets 10 games so far and is averaging a team-high 12.2 points in only 18 minutes per contest. She has also knocked down 13-36 (.361) three-point attempts to lead the squad.
SENIOR CLASS LOOKING FOR MORE WINS
The 2009-10 senior class, Brigitte Ardossi and Tiffany Blackmon, have been part of 73 wins in their three seasons on the Flats, which is good for second all-time. The Jackets need seven 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 107 games since she came to Tech and has started 59 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 11.9 points and 6.1 boards per game so far and has connected on 21-28 (.750) free-throw attempts in a career-high 26.0 minutes a game.
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 (11.9), rebounds (6.3) and assists (3.9) over the 10 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 5.8 rebounds a game so far this season. Regins is also scoring 5.9 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 10.6 a game and is grabbing 6.1 rebounds a game. She also has recorded 20 steals in 10 games.
TAYLOR HONORED BY ACC
Freshman Sharena Taylor was recognized for her great game against Mississippi Valley State by being named the ACC Rookie of the Week for the week ending on Dec. 13. Taylor finished with season-highs in points (12) and assists (7) in 26 minutes off the bench. It is her first career ACC weekly honor.
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 111 steals (11.1 pg) in the first eight games.
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
Since Joseph began her tenure, Georgia Tech is 73-22 (.768) at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Last season, Tech finished with a 13-2 mark on the Coliseum floor. Tech has won its first two games at home in 2009-10 and is scheduled to play 14 games during the season.
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 114-78 (.594) 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 13 wins shy of the programs 500th all-time victory. Over the 35-plus seasons of women’s basketball on the Flats, Tech is 489-505 (.492) in 994 games. Since the 2000-01 season, Georgia Tech has won 163 games (33 percent of all wins).
