Jan. 6, 2005
ATLANTA – Rookie point guard Jill Ingram drove the lane for a basket with four seconds remaining and freshman Chioma Nnamaka scored a career-high 30 points as the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (10-2, 1-0 ACC) defeated Florida State (13-2, 0-1), 59-58, Thursday night in Tallahassee.
“I was impressed with the team that Florida State put on the floor today, especially after everything they lost from a year ago,” said Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph. “I told our players before the game that I thought that this team played harder than any team we would face all year and that was true tonight. I think that both teams played hard on both sides of the ball tonight and either team could have won this game.”
With the Seminoles leading 55-54, Nnamaka hit a three-pointer to put the Yellow Jackets up by two with 38 seconds remaining in the game. Florida State’s Ganiyat Adeduntan then missed a jump shot with 16 seconds remaining but pulled down her own rebound and dished to Alicia Gladden, who made a layup with 12 seconds on the clock to put the Seminoles up by one point. After FSU called a timeout, Ingram received the inbound pass and dribbled the ball straight down the court, driving the lane between a pair of Seminole defenders and to the basket to give the Yellow Jackets their first road ACC win since defeating the Seminoles in Tallahassee a year ago.
“We have been preparing for end-of-game situations all year long because we lost six games last year by less than five points,” said Joseph. “We knew that every game was going to come down to the last two minutes and it did today. We weren’t surprised and again I was just so impressed with Florida State’s play today.”
Nnamaka shattered her previous career-high of 21 points with 30 against FSU, and was joined in double figures by Ingram, who added 11. Kentrina Wilson, starting in just her second game of the season, joined Nnamaka as the top rebounders for the Jackets, as each pulled down seven, helping Tech outrebound the Seminoles, 34-22, on the evening. Nnamaka shot 63.2 percent from the field, including converting on all four three-point attempts and Ingram converted on 50 percent of her shots and the two Jackets were a combined 17-of-29 from the field.
Georgia Tech shot 46.2 percent in the game and made 6-of-10 from three-point range, while Florida State converted on 44.4 percent from the field. There were a total of nine lead changes, including seven over the last 4:17, and six ties in the contest.
Nnamaka led all players with 19 first-half points, scoring eight of her points in the Yellow Jackets’ 11-2 run that begin after the second media timeout of the frame at 10:39 and concluded when the Seminoles’ Linnea Liljestrand hit a three-pointer at 5:50. Tech outrebounded the Seminoles, 20-11, in the period, which led to 10 second-chance points for the Yellow Jackets.
Roneeka Hodges paced the Seminoles with 19 points and Alicia Gladden added 17 against the Yellow Jackets.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Monday when they host the Virginia Cavaliers at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (FSN South, Comcast, Sunshine.) The game can also be heard on WREK-Radio, 91.1 FM in Atlanta, and on the web at www.wrek.org. Livestats for the contest will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
