Feb. 23, 2013
By Jon Cooper
Sting Daily
Georgia Tech will try to send its senior class out on a high note while looking to extend its conference winning streak to a season-high three games when it plays host to the University of Miami. Tip-off at McCamish Pavilion is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets won their second straight game on Thursday night, drubbing Wake Forest, 82-64, on Thursday night, completing their season sweep of Wake Forest. Ty Marshall went off for 27 points on 10-for-24 shooting, with 10 rebounds and Sydney Wallace added 20, hitting 5-for-8 from three. Tech overcame an early six-point deficit, using a 15-0 run to take a 13-point lead. Aaliyah Whiteside had eight of her 18 points, including, a pair of three-point plays, to spark the run, The Jackets, who shot 48.5 percent in the first half put the game away with a 17-4 run over the final five minutes of the first half. They led by as much as 28 and by 20 for most of the second half. Tech forced 24 turnovers and turned them into 30 points, holding a 30-9 edge in points off turnovers.
The Hurricanes are looking to extend their conference road winning streak to a season-high three games. Miami earned its first conference-road winning streak of the season, winning, 59-55, at NC State, but they did it the hard way. Miami squandered a 17-point second-half lead before Shawnice Wilson saved the day, scoring four straight points. Stefanie Yderstrom led three double-digit scorers with a game-high 17, including nailing all six free throw attempts, while Wilson had a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Morgan Stroman just missed one (11 points, nine rebounds). Miami, which led 33-23 at the half, was held to 1 for 8 from three from three but held a decisive 23-13 edge on the offensive glass.
Today’s game will be the final regular season meeting this season and 23rd in a series that dates back to 1980. The Jackets and ‘Canes are all even at 11 wins apiece but Miami has won the last four games. The Jackets hold a slim 4-3 edge all-time in Atlanta. This is the first meeting at McCamish Pavilion.
The game can be seen on RSN with Mike Hogewood and Christy Winters-Scott calling the action. The game also can be heard on WREK, 91.1 FM, or online at www.WREK.org with Richard Musterer and LaQuananisha Adams on the call. Fans can get live stats on RamblinWreck.com and also can get instant updates by following the team on Twitter at @GTWBB and can get more information on the team by liking them on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball.
And now, the Starting Five for today’s game.
The Last Time We Met: Georgia Tech dropped a 71-65 decision on Jan. 17th at the BankUnited Center despite 23 points and seven rebounds from freshman Brittany Jackson. Jackson hit five three-pointers for the Jackets, who also got 10 and 8 from Ty Marshall. Tech shot 25.7 percent in the first 20 minutes but led by as much as seven and by one at the break in a half that saw five ties and seven lead-changes. The lead would see-saw five more times in the second half. Jackson’s three at the 7:30 mark gave the Jackets a 55-54 lead but, with Miami up two inside four minutes, an offensive rebound by Shawnice Williams and an ensuing three by Stefanie Yderstrom sparked a 7-2 ‘Canes run, expanding the lead to seven. Tech wouldn’t get closer than five. Jackson was 8-for-16 for the game, 5-for-11 from three. The Jackets held a 41-40 edge on the boards and 21-16 on the offensive end, leading to a 20-16 edge in second-chance points.
A Fond Adieu: Georgia Tech will honor seniors Jasmine Blain, Danielle Hamilton-Carter, and Sharena Taylor prior to today’s game. This senior class has won 85 games, fourth-most all-time, with a .659 winning percentage and has won 34 conference games, second-most in school history. Blain, Hamilton-Carter and Taylor all posted at least a 3.0 grade-point average during the fall.. Blain, who tore her ACL early last season but was granted a medical redshirt to play this season, recorded the first double-double of her career on Nov. 23 in the San Juan Shootout against Syracuse, going for 13 points and 15 rebounds. Hamilton-Carter, a fixture on the Swedish National Team, more than doubled her previous high with 16 starts (with two games remaining), and has improved in just about every category, offensive and defensive. Her three blocks at Clemson on Jan. 6 are tied for the team single-game high. Taylor, who graduated in the Dec. 15 Commencement, the first held at McCamish Pavilion, is the first in her family to graduate from a four-year college and will be sticking around Atlanta, as she’ll be working with Teach for America
Streaky Does It: If there is a word to describe the Georgia Tech-Miami series it would be streaky. The series began with Miami winning six of seven (a pair of three-game streaks). Then Tech took over, winning 10 of 11, with a pair of five-game winning streaks. It’s currently Miami’s turn, as their win on Jan. 13 at the BankU Center, extended the Hurricanes’ current series winning streak to four, their longest in the series. A sign that the tide may be turning is that the Jackets lost by only six in the first meeting this season. The margins of defeat had been rising over the previous three losses — by 10 in overtime on Jan. 30, 2011, by 11 on Feb. 27, 2011 and by 12 last Jan. 9, 2012, the Jackets.
Money Ball: Freshman guard Aaliyah Whiteside has become a dependable option at the foul line for the Yellow Jackets. She’s hit nine of 12 attempts over the last two games (75.0 percent), and has converted 19 of 24 over her last six (79.2 percent). Whiteside made a career-best five free throws Thursday night at Wake Forest, besting her previous high of four, which she’d done on four previous occasions. Her seven attempts were one off her season best, set against Virginia on Jan. 10. To show how dependable she’s been, the two misses against the Demon Deacons were the most she’s had in 11 games since the Virginia game, (she did not attempt a free throw in three of those games). Whiteside is third on the team at 70.8 percent and second in ACC play at 72.7 (minimum 10 attempts).
Burning Down Their House: Sydney Wallace has heated up for Georgia Tech, moving up to second in the conference in three-point field goals per game (2.5) and sixth in three-point shooting percentage (38.9 percent). However convincing fans at McCamish Pavilion of that might be a little difficult. That’s because Wallace has done most of that damage in opposing arenas. Over the Jackets’s last 10 games — five at home, five on the road — Wallace has sizzled from behind the arc on the road, hitting at 42.9 percent (18-for-42) and that includes a 6-for-15 at Virginia and a 2-for-8 at Florida State. In the five home games, in that span, Wallace is shooting 34.2 percent (13-for-38). And the disparity seems to be widening, as Wallace has been getting hotter on the road, making 9 of 17 (52.9 percent) in Tech’s last two road games while shooting 3-for-15 (20.0 percent) in Tech’s last two home games.
The Sixth Man: With one more home game remaining after today, Georgia Tech is 1-6 in ACC play in its first year at McCamish Pavilion. But three of those losses were by seven-or-fewer points, including the last two games, each of which they lost by a bucket…Ty Marshall has been unstoppable at both ends of the floor, as she has five double-doubles in Tech’s last seven games. Last time out, at Wake, Marshall grabbed seven of her 10 offensive rebounds off the offensive glass. Her season best in offensive rebounds is 10…A win today would keep the Yellow Jackets from their first three-game home losing steak in this series and, even more unusual, their third straight home loss to Miami in their third different venue. Tech lost in 2011 at AMC, and last year at The Arena at Gwinnett Center. Today is the first game at McCamish…Tech’s projected starting lineup for today — Roddreka Rogers and Nariah Taylor up front, Ty Marshall, Sydney Wallace and Aaliyah Whiteside in the back court, is the eighth different starting lineup employed this season by Head Coach MaChelle Joseph. The unit is 2-1 in its three games, with the lone loss coming by two last Sunday to No. 16/18 North Carolina.
GEORGIA TECH LEADING SCORER: Tyaunna Marshall, 17.5 ppg
MIAMI LEADING SCORER: Morgan Stroman, 13.1 ppg
GEORGIA TECH LEADING SCORER (ACC): Tyaunna Marshall, 18.6 ppg
MIAMI LEADING SCORER (ACC): Morgan Stroman, 14.3 ppg
GEORGIA TECH LEADING REBOUNDER: Tyaunna Marshall, 8.6 rpg
MIAMI LEADING REBOUNDER: Morgan Stroman, 8.5 rpg
GEORGIA TECH LEADING REBOUNDER(ACC): Tyaunna Marshall, 8.3 rpg
MIAMI LEADING REBOUNDER (ACC): Morgan Stroman, 8.6 rpg
GEORGIA TECH SCORING: 67.3/67.5 ppg.
OPPONENT: 67.2/70.8 ppg.
MIAMI SCORING: 66.5/66.3 (ACC) ppg.
OPPONENT: 59.2/64.8 (ACC) ppg.
MIAMI PLAYER TO WATCH: Morgan Stroman: The 6-1 forward is having a big senior season. After missing the final 13 games of last season with an Achillies injury, Stroman is leading the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), rebounding (8.5 rpg) — offensive (82) and defensive (139) — steals (49, 1.8 spg), blocked shots (31, 1.19 bpg), field goals made (121), and free throws made and attempted (98-for-141). In conference play she’s in the top 10 in scoring (14.3 ppg, 8th), rebounding (8.6 rpg, 5th), defensive rebounding (5.9 drpg) and field goal percentage (50.0 percent, ninth), and is 13th in blocked shots (0.8 bpg, 13th). and offensive rebounding (2.7 orpg). Stroman leads the team with seven double-doubles (24 for her career) with one of those coming in the previous meeting against Georgia Tech, when she scored 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. She has given Tech’s bigs fits, averaging 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds in six career games against the Jackets and has three double-doubles in her last four games Tech.
