Feb. 9, 2014
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (16-8, 6-5 ACC) won its third-straight game, defeating Miami, 89-87, at the BankUnited Center Sunday afternoon.
“I’m just really proud of our team’s perseverance today,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I thought that we came out really strong. We let up defensively in our defensive pressure and I thought Miami did a good job going hard at us. They got to the free throw line. We responded when we were down. I thought we responded by getting defensive stops. Ty Marshall made some critical plays.”
With a team-high 24 points against the Hurricanes, senior Tyaunna Marshall moved into 23rd on the ACC’s career points list, surpassing NC State’s Trudi Lacey’s. Marshall now has 1,980 points, putting her just 20 points shy of becoming the first Jacket to score 2,000 career points. The senior led Tech in points, rebounds, steals and assists at Miami. Marshall set a new career high, with seven steals against the Hurricanes and tallied nine rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore Sydney Wallace recorded her first 20-point game this season, scoring 20 against the Hurricanes. Wallace shot 4-for-6 from behind the 3-point line and recorded two steals. Davis contributed 13 points against the Hurricanes while grabbing four rebounds. Sophomore Aaliyah Whiteside had another solid performance for Tech, scoring nine points and recording eight rebounds.
Despite holding a lead as large as 17 points in the first half, the Jackets found themselves down nine to the Hurricanes, 74-65, with just eight minutes left in the game. Roddreka Rogers’ free throw at 6:40 sparked a 14-0 run to put Tech back on top, 81-76. During the run the Jackets put the pressure on the Hurricanes, forcing seven turnovers and allowed them just one shot. Marshall contributed six points during the run.
Miami would outscore the Jackets, 6-1, to climb within on of Tech’s lead, 86-85 with just 58 seconds left.
Marshall and Keyona Hayes traded baskets and the Jackets led by one, 88-87, with 25 seconds left in the game. Marshall would hit one of her free throws to put Tech ahead, 89-87 with 13 seconds on the clock. The Jackets’ defense held strong yet again in the final seconds, preserving Tech’s third-straight ACC road win.
Wallace scored 11 of her 20 points in the second half, while Marshall had five steals of her seven in the second half of play. Marshall scored 16 points in the final 20 minutes to help Tech overcome their deficit and tally its first win at Miami since 2010.
The Jackets were hot in the opening minutes of the game, outscoring the Hurricanes 12-2 in the first 4:23 of the contest. Tech also forced the Hurricanes to turn the ball over four times in first four minutes.
Wallace scored seven-straight points to push Tech’s lead to 15-2 at the 14:44 mark in the first half. The Jackets would build on their lead, stretching it to 17, 27-10.
The Hurricanes would climb as close as four points to the Jackets lead, but Tech would string together five-straight points to take a 35-26 lead with 4:14 remaining in the half.
Heading into halftime, the Jackets held a, 42-36, lead. Davis scored in double-figures before it was halfway through the first half. The freshman finished with 13 points in the first half, sinking two 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes of play.
During the second half, the Hurricanes would put together a 7-0 run to tie it up, 47-47, with 16:24 left in the game, marking the first tie score since the opening tip.
Miami would take its first lead of the afternoon off of a 3-pointer by Krystal Saunders, 52-49, at 15:30. Wallace would sink her third 3-pointer of the game and hit two free throws to put Tech on top, 58-55, with 13:08 on the clock. The Hurricanes then climbed to its largest lead of nine points with eight minutes remaining before Tech began its game-changing 14-0 run.
Freshman Adrienne Motley scored a team-high 26 points for Miami while Hayes contributed 14 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Next up, the Jackets host Virginia on Thursday at 7 p.m. for its Play for Kay game at McCamish Pavilion. All fans that wear pink will receive $2 admission to the game. –RamblinWreck.com–
