Jan. 16, 2011
By Jon Cooper
Sting Daily
TECH LEADING SCORER: Alex Montgomery, 14.6 ppg
TECH LEADING SCORER, ACC: Tyaunna Marshall, 16.7 ppg
WAKE FOREST LEADING SCORER: Brittany Waters, 12.7 ppg
WAKE FOREST LEADING SCORER, ACC: Lakevia Boykin, 15.0 ppg
TECH LEADING REBOUNDER: Alex Montgomery, 8.5 rpg
TECH LEADING REBOUNDER, ACC: Alex Montgomery, Sasha Goodlett, 8.0 rpg
WAKE FOREST LEADING REBOUNDER: Sandra Garcia, 5.5 rpg
WAKE FOREST LEADING REBOUNDER, ACC: Brittany Waters, 6.0 rpg
TECH SCORING: 67.4 ppg/67.7 (ACC)
OPPONENT: 52.1 ppg/57.0 (ACC)
WAKE FOREST SCORING: 69.2 ppg/60.5 (ACC)
OPPONENT: 60.9 ppg/67.0 (ACC)
WAKE FOREST PLAYER TO WATCH: Brittany Waters – The senior forward is the big gun on the Demon Deacons, ranking 19th in the ACC in scoring. She’s also among the league leaders in blocked shots, ranking ninth (1.2 bpg). Waters has led the team in scoring eight times and, back on Dec. 20, became the 18th player in Demon Deacons history to reach the 1000-point mark.
Georgia Tech looks to make history tonight when they take the floor of Lawrence Joel Coliseum, as they attempt to start 4-0 in ACC for the first time in school history. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.
MaChelle Joseph’s squad comes into the game having won 12 straight and three straight “true” road games, including their ACC road opener, a 64-53 win at Clemson last Monday night. In their last game, the Jackets knocked off Virginia, 68-48, at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Ty Marshall had a game-high 16 points, leading four double-figure scorers. Three players, Sasha Goodlett, Alex Montgomery and Deja Foster each pulled down nine rebounds, while Metra Walthour dished out nine assists in the win.
The Demon Deacons are 1-1 in ACC play, having evened up their conference mark with a 62-54 win over Virginia Tech on Thursday. Sandra Garcia poured in 17 points and Lakevia Boykin added 12, as Wake survived a rare off-night by Waters (2-for-10). Waters made up for it with three blocked shots and a team-high-tying four assists (Brooke Thomas also had four helpers). While the Demon Deacons are 10-8, they are 8-3 at home.
Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 33-23, but is 10-16 in Winston Salem. In the MaChelle Joseph era, Tech is 6-4 in the series, 2-2 at Joel Coliseum, but the Jackets have won six of the last seven meetings, including a 72-66 win at AMC last Jan. 14, and a 52-45 win in the first round of the ACC Tournament. In the Tournament match-up, the Jackets trailed 25-9 and made only three first-half field goals before bouncing back. Brigitte Ardossi had a a game-high 23 points and sparked an 18-5 run over the final 10:08 to take the game.
Tonight’s game will be televised on RSN, with Mike Hogewood doing the play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli providing the color. As always, the game can be heard on WREK, 91.1 FM or online at www.WREK.org. Richard Musterer calls the action with Kyle Tait adding color analysis. Fans can get live stats by logging onto Ramblinwreck.com.
Now, the Starting Five for tonight’s game.
Lucky 13?.: A win tonight would match Georgia Tech’s all-time longest winning streak. The previous mark was set over two seasons, as they won their final three games of the 1976-77 season, then started 10-0 in 1977-78. The Jackets also are hoping to raise their record to 13-1 with Deja Foster in the lineup.
Better Goodlett Than Lucky: Sasha Goodlett has come on with a vengeance since the start of ACC play. The junior center enters tonight’s game averaging 13.3 points per game and pulling down a team-leading 8.0 rebounds per game, both tied for the team lead with Alex Montgomery. Goodlett is averaging 33.3 minutes per game. Overall, she’s averaging 9.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Goodlett has scored in double-figures in all three conference games after hitting double-figures six times in the first 16 games.
On The Rebound: The Yellow Jackets have dominated on the boards all season, Their plus-9.3 rebounding margin (40.4-30.1). ranks fourth in the ACC — while Wake is 10th (plus-4.6). They have just about kept up that edge in ACC play, pulling down 8.6 rebounds more than their conference competition (38.3-29.7). In fact, opponents average an ACC-low 31.1 rebounds per game against Tech. Alex Montgomery is third in the conference in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and leads the ACC with 6.8 rebounds per game (129 overall). She is the only member of either team amongst the conference top 20.
Top-10 Bound: Ty Marshall is already within reach of getting into the school’s top 10 amongst freshmen. She is 16 points away from tying Aimee Weiss. Weiss scored 288 points in 30 games (9.6 ppg) during the 1989-90 season. Marshall, who has 272 points in 19 games, has hit for at least 16 points in 10 games this season and in five of the last six, where she is averaging 19.3 points. She has five 20-point games this season.
From Me-Me To You: Point guard Metra Walthour was especially generous in Tech’s last game against Virginia, handing out a career-best nine assists. In ACC play, she’s delivered 18 in three games (6.0 apg). She’s also been very careful with the ball, committing only seven turnovers in three games. On the year, her 4.3 assists per game tie her for fourth with Clemson’s Bryelle Smith, while her 2.1-to-1 assists-to-turnovers ratio is third. In ACC play she’s sporting a 2.5-to-1 assists to turnover ratio.
The Sixth Man: The Yellow Jackets are not shy to go to their deep bench, showing other team’s not only their sixth man, but their seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th. Thursday’s win over Virginia, was the 17th game out of 19 this season where the Jackets played at least 10 players.
