Nov. 21, 2011
By Jon Cooper
Georgia Tech returns home looking to go 4-0 for the fifth time in the MaChelle Joseph era, and the first time since 2007-08, when they host Kennesaw State at the Arena at Gwinnett. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.
The Jackets are coming off an impressive road win over Marquette at the Bradley Center on Saturday. Ty Marshall led Tech with 19 points on 8-for-19 shooting. She also led the team with eight rebounds, including a game-high five on the offensive glass, and six assists. Metra Walthour added 18 and Chelsea Regins went for 11 as the Jackets outscored the Golden Eagles, 36-26, in the final 20 minutes, blowing open what was a one-point game at the half.
Tuesday night’s game can be heard on WREK, 91.1 FM or online at www.WREK.org. Richard Musterer calls the action with Michele Van Gorp. It can be streamed on Ramblinwreck.com, where fans also can get live stats.
Now, the Starting Five for tuesday night’s game.
Lucky 7: Georgia Tech has never lost to Kennesaw State, having won all six previous meetings and all five under Joseph. The games haven’t really been close, as the Jackets have never won by fewer than 13 points, with the largest spread in the series being a 46-point bulge on Dec. 18, 2009. Last season, the Jackets took care of Kennesaw 79-60 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Tech is 4-0 at home and 2-0 at Kennesaw.
Put it in neutral: While tonight’s game is officially a Georgia Tech home game, distance-wise, it could almost be considered a neutral-site game, as The Arena at Gwinnett is only a little more than four miles closer to Georgia Tech in Atlanta (33.9 miles) than to Kennesaw State (38.2 miles). There has never been a neutral-site game in this series.
Leader of the Pack: Marshall being the team’s leading scorer against Marquette, isn’t surprising, as she’s led Tech in two of its first three games and led the team in scoring 16 times as a freshman — that was with Alex Montgomery still on the squad. Her leading the team in rebounding and assists is a little more unique, as she only led the team in assists three times and topped the squad in assists three times last year. On Saturday, Marshall became the first Jacket to lead the team in all three categories since Montgomery did so last December 3, with 16/10/5 against Middle Tennessee State.
A Quintuple Double?: The Yellow Jackets have been spreading the wealth offensively and already have three players scoring in double-figures in Ty Marshall (14.7 ppg), Dawnn Maye (13.5) and Metra Walthour (12.0). They’re not far away from having five players over the 10 ppg mark, as Sasha Goodlett (9.7) and Sydney Wallace (9.0) are both within a point of hitting for double-digits. Last season only Montgomery and Marshall were over 10.0 ppg and Goodlett was the only other player over 9.0.
(Me-)Me-Wow!: Walthour was 6-for-6 from the foul line against Marquette, marking the second time in three games that she’s hit all six attempts from the foul line. The senior point is now 12-for-12 on the season in free throw attempts. She’s having her best year at the line by far, as she came into the season shooting .663 career and had her best season last year as a junior, shooting .718.
The Sixth Man: Kennesaw State has been the best of times for a couple of non-starters, as LaQuananisha Adams set her career-high with eight rebounds, and tied her career-best scoring with 12 points against Kennesaw State in 2009. In the same game, Mo Bennett chalked up her career-high with 23 points. In last year’s game against the Owls, Shayla Bivins matched her career-high for blocks, getting a career-high 2 swats. In addition, the Jackets set their team-highs for free throws attempted (32) and made (23) against KSU.
TECH LEADING SCORER: Tyaunna Marshall, 14.7 ppg
TECH LEADING REBOUNDER: Tyaunna Marshall, 6.0 rpg
KSU LEADING SCORER: Ashley Holliday, 14.3 ppg
KSU LEADING REBOUNDER: Lisa Capellan, 6.7 rpg
TECH SCORING: 86.0 ppg
OPPONENT: 52.0 ppg
KSU SCORING: 70.3 ppg
OPPONENT: 60.3 ppg
KSU PLAYER TO WATCH: Ashley Holliday – The junior guard isn’t shy from three and has the range, as she set an NCAA D-I record by canning nine three-pointers in a game last season. However Holliday, who is tied for the team lead with six threes, also can be streaky, as she hit only 3-of-16 against Gardner Webb and is hitting .222 from behind the arc.
