Dec. 11, 2008
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team, currently on a three-game win streak, will travel across the country to face Oregon Saturday in Portland at the Rose Garden. The women’s game, the first of a doubleheader with the Oregon men, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET.
Fans can listen to Richard Musterer and LaChina Robinson call all the action this weekend on WREK Radio (91.1 FM/www.wrek.org), Georgia Tech women’s basketball’s flagship station.
The Yellow Jackets, who have never faced the Ducks, are only 1-1 all-time against Pac-10 opponents, with the last game coming on Dec. 19, 1994, when they fell to UCLA, 81-69. Oregon is 3-0 against members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Jackets have taken the last week off from competition to focus on finals. Prior to exams in the classroom, Tech passed both of its tests at home against No. 21 Michigan State and archrival Georgia.
Oregon, who also has taken the past week off, is coming of a tough 60-52 loss to Montana in Eugene.
NEXT UP: WINTHROP
Georgia Tech, after a quick stop in Atlanta, will travel to Nassau, Bahamas for the 2008 Bahamas Sunsplash Shootout. The Yellow Jackets will open the tournament against Winthrop on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. In the second game of the tournament, Tech will either face Memphis or UT Arlington on Saturday, Dec. 20. The consolation game is scheduled for 12 p.m., followed by the championship game at 2 p.m. Georgia Tech is 2-0 all-time against Winthrop, including a 124-47 win over the Eagles on Dec. 30, 1990, the most points scored by a Yellow Jacket team.
TECH VS. OREGON
• This is the first meeting between Georgia Tech and Oregon.
• Georgia Tech is 1-1 all-time against Pac-10 opponents. Tech last played a Pac-10 team on Dec. 19, 1994, when it fell to UCLA, 81-69.
• The Ducks are 3-0 all-time against ACC opponents.
• Tech’s Jacqua Williams and the Ducks’ Nia Jackson both hail from Seattle, Wash., while Alex Montgomery of Georgia Tech and Oregon’s Lindsey Saffold both call Tacoma, Wash., home.
LOOKING BACK: GEORGIA TECH RUNS PAST GEORGIA, 57-42
A key 11-2 run early in the second half sparked the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (7-2) to a 57-42 win over Georgia (7-2) in front of 6,212 raucous fans at Alexander Memorial Coliseum Friday night, the second largest crowd since 1984.
Sophomore Iasia Hemingway led all scorers with 18 points, while junior Brigitte Ardossi chipped in with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Alex Montgomery added 11 points, seven boards and four assists. She had two three-pointers during the Jackets’ decisive run.
PICK A POCKET OR TWO
After three-plus seasons on the Flats, senior Jacqua Williams has earned the reputation as one of the best defenders in the nation. The speedster from Seattle, Wash., recorded her 279th career steal on Nov. 22, 2008 against Mississippi Valley State for a new school record, surpassing Kisha Ford and Tiffany Martin on the all-time steals list. Williams plans to obliterate the previous record over the next four months.
Last season, Williams finished with a single-season school record 118 steals, leading the ACC and ranking fourth in the nation with 3.8 per game. She has registered at least one steal in 47 straight games and even held the ACC single game record for steals with 11 (later broken by former Yellow Jacket Jill Ingram with 14). This season she leads the Jackets with 40 steals and has 301 on her career.
SENIOR CLASS PILING UP WINS
Georgia Tech’s 2008-09 senior class of Tabitha Turner and Jacqua Williams have been a part of 64 wins since beginning their careers on the Flats. The two Jackets have helped Tech to back-to-back record-setting seasons and are on pace to become the most successful class in the history of the program. With 6 more wins this season, the pair will accumulate the most wins by any senior class to ever play for the Yellow Jackets. Last year’s seniors finished with a school-best 69 wins in their careers.
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE … OYE, OYE, OYE
Junior Brigitte Ardossi started 26 games during her freshman season and helped the Jackets to their first win in the NCAA Tournament. Last season she was regulated to the first big off the bench and made the most of her opportunity by scoring 3.9 points per game and grabbing 2.8 rebounds in 14.5 minutes. Coach Joseph expects big things from her Aussie post-player in 2008-09 and has inserted her back into the starting lineup. She has played in 74 straight games, every game since coming to the Flats, and has started 35 of those games.
Ardossi, who has elevated her game to a new level, is scoring 9.0 points a game and is grabbing 5.2 rebounds per game. She is also knocking down her free-throw attempts at an 83% clip. Against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 30, 2008, Ardossi scored a career-high 18 points to lead Tech to the win. On Dec. 5, Ardossi helped Tech defeat its archrival Georgia with her first career double-double (15 pts, 10 reb.).
SHE CAN DO IT ALL
Anyone who watched Alex Montgomery play last season knows she can really do it all. She is not only the team’s top returning scorer (10.8) and rebounder (5.4), Montgomery has also shown she can dish it, steal it, block it or even win a jump ball. A starter of 26 games as a freshman, Montgomery has become the center of the Yellow Jackets offense. She is averaging12.4 points, has grabbed 5.2 rebounds a game and is shooting 36 percent from beyond-the-arc.
MOVING OUT
Sophomore Iasia Hemingway excelled as an undersized post player for the Jackets last season, scoring over 20 points against the likes of Maryland’s Crystal Langhorne and Tasha Humphrey of Georgia. This season, Coach Joseph has added some taller players to the Jackets roster that will allow Hemingway to take her game outside to the wing. Hemingway will now have a chance to not only post up players her height, she will also be able to take the ball to the basket and box out smaller guards for rebounds.
Hemingway is averging 12.9 points and is registering 4.3 rebounds a game. She recorded her first career double-double against Georgia State (21 pts, 11 reb.) on Nov. 26, 2008. Hemingway has also shown a knack for getting to the free-throw line, with 54 attempts so far and is shooting 69 percent from the charity stripe.
SIXTH (WO)MAN
Most teams are lucky enough to have a solid starting five. This season, Joseph feels she can list six starters on her roster. Sophomore’s Deja Foster has shown the ability to step on the court and make an instant impact for the Jackets. Foster is averaging 23.9 minutes and started her first career game on Nov. 30, 2008 against Tennessee Tech.
Foster is scoring 8.8 points a game and is averaging 4.4 rebounds. Against Michigan State, she sparked Tech in the final five minutes with her first career three-pointer and back-to-back three-point plays on her way to a career-high 13 points.
FULL COURT PRESS
Last season, Georgia Tech finished the season with a school record 456 steals and led the NCAA with 14.3 steals per game. This has to be credited to Coach Joseph’s pressing defense. Joseph will press for 40 minutes with numerous pressing schemes to keep the offensive off-balance. Joseph wants her team to “be an impressive running defensive team that creates opportunities for the offense.” Even though it is early in the season, Tech is averaging a staggering 14.6 steals a game.
WINNING WITH COACH JO
In just her sixth season at the helm, Coach MaChelle Joseph has already posted the second-most wins in Georgia Tech history. Joseph has registered an 91-68 (.572) record. She has led Tech to its first back-to-back 20-win seasons and two straight NCAA Tournaments.
TECH VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
The Yellow Jackets played two top-10 teams in there first six games for the first time since facing No. 3 Georgia and No. 9 Maryland back in 1983. Tech went 0-2 in those games but fell by only 11 points at No. 1 UConn and then lost a tight game by eight points to No. 9 Texas in Florida. These games proved to help the Jackets as they upset No. 21 Michigan State at home on Dec. 3, 2008. This was the first win over a ranked opponent for Tech since it defeated No. 4 Maryland on Feb. 1, 2007.
BEST IN STATE
The Yellow Jackets did not win any trophy or cup but they did accomplish of their main goals coming in to the season,Tech has defeated Kennesaw State, Georgia State Georgia. With a win over Savannah State later this season, Tech will be able to call themselves the top team in the state of Georgia for the 2008-09 season. The last time Georgia Tech defeated three in-state teams was in 2002-03, when Tech defeated Georgia, Georgia State and Mercer.
