Dec. 20, 2011
By Jon Cooper
Sting Daily
Georgia Tech finishes off its brief stay in the Bahamas with its second game of the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout against Central Arkansas. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.
Tech has won three in a row and four of five after its 80-38 rout of SIU-Edwardsville Monday night. Ty Marshall scored a game-high 15 for the Jackets, who shot 57.1 percent. Dawnn Maye added 12 and Sasha Goodlett added 11. Defensively, Tech held the Cougars to 25.0 percent shooting, jumping out to a 7-0 lead, led 32-22 at the break then broke the game open with a 25-1 run early in the second half.
The Sugar Bears, were riding a three-game winning streak heading into Tuesday night’s game in Nassau against High Point University. Central Arkansas has been streaky, winning its first four games, then dropping two straight, before embarking on its current three-game winning streak. The Sugar Bears are 6-0 at home, but 1-2 in neutral-site games, having played at the Texas Tech Classic, where they handled Louisiana-Monroe, 73-55, before falling 73-46 to the host Red Raiders and dropping a 64-60 decision to University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Tech fans can catch tonight’s game on WREK, 91.1 FM or online at www.WREK.org with Richard Musterer and Michele Van Gorp on the call. It can be streamed on Ramblinwreck.com, where fans also can get live stats. Fans 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.
Now, the Starting Five for today’s game.
The Last Time We Met: Just as with SIU-Edwardsville, Georgia Tech has no previous meetings with Central Arkansas. The Jackets have faced only one other team from the Southland Conference. That was University of Texas-Arlington, which Tech met on Dec. 20, 2008, in the championship game of the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout. Coach Joseph’s squad handled the Mavericks, 63-56, led by a career-high 20 points from Jacqua Williams and 16 from Alex Montgomery.
Cashing In: A key to Georgia Tech’s recent run of four wins in five games has been forcing and taking advantage of turnovers. Over the last five games Tech has forced 107 turnovers (21.4 TOs per game), has been plus-12 in turnover margin and has lost the turnover battle one time — their lone loss in the stretch, at Georgia. They’ve outscored their opponents by 53 points off turnovers in that span and only once has been outscored (by one point at Middle Tennessee State). They’ve been exceptional over the last two games, holding a plus-15 edge in turnovers and a plus-40 advantage in points off turnovers.
Dan Kan Shoot: Junior forward Danielle Hamilton-Carter is starting to find the range. With her 4-for-5 shooting against SIUE, Hamilton-Carter has hit seven of her last eight shots over two games and has hit 11-of-14 over the last five games (78.6 percent). The 23 points over those five games are only two points fewer than she had in the previous six games. Defensively, her two steals against the Cougars doubled her season total.
Thrida Returns: Hamilton-Carter’s countrywoman Frida Fogdemark also is starting to heat up. She’s had multi-three-pointer games for the first time in 2011-12, having hit two threes in each of the last two games. She hit 2-of-4 from behind the arc against SIU-Edwardsville, making her 4-for-11 over the last two games (36.4 percent). Prior to those games, Fogdemark had only made one three and had only attempted four shots all season, having sat for six of the previous seven games.
Leaders of the Pack: Georgia Tech is getting used to leading wire-to-wire, having done so in back-to-back games and three times in the last five games. The Jackets have never trailed in a game five times this season and on two other occasions, opponents’ largest lead has been a single point.
The Sixth Woman: Dawnn Maye found her stroke against SIUE, as she had 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting. The six FGMs matched her career-high set opening night against Alabama State, while her 12 points were two off her career high, set the next game against Old Dominion. It was a nice night for Maye, who had made six field goals combined over her previous four games, but needed 19 attempts.
GEORGIA TECH LEADING SCORER: Tyaunna Marshall, 16.0 ppg
GEORGIA TECH LEADING REBOUNDER: Tyaunna Marshall, 6.2 rpg
CENTRAL ARKANSAS LEADING SCORER: Megan Herbert, 15.2 ppg
CENTRAL ARKANSAS LEADING REBOUNDER: Megan Herbert, 10.0 rpg
GEORGIA TECH SCORING: 74.4 ppg
OPPONENT: 54.5 ppg
CENTRAL ARKANSAS SCORING: 69.1 ppg
OPPONENT: 52.3 ppg
CENTRAL ARKANSAS PLAYER TO WATCH: Megan Herbert – The returning Southland Conference Player of the Year is making a strong case to repeat. The 5-11 junior forward is averaging a double-double (15.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg). She has been smoking of late, as in the last game prior to Tuesday night’s, against Tennessee-Martin, the two-time All-Southland First-Teamer scored 27 points, pulled down eight offensive rebounds and dished out a season-high two assists. On the defensive end, she grabbed six rebounds and knocked away a season-high four shots.
–RamblinWreck.com–
