Jan. 1, 2004
– Game No. 13: Florida State
Georgia Tech (9-3) vs. Florida State (7-4)
January 2, 2004 7 p.m. Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, Ga.
Television: None
Radio: WREK-FM 91.1 (Tech Broadcast) * WFLA-AM 1270 (Florida State Broadcast)
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Tech Opens Conference Play with Florida State
The Yellow Jackets will open the new year with their first conference game of the 2003-04 season as they host Florida State on January 2nd in a game that will tip at 7 p.m. in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on radio by WREK-Radio, 91.1 FM in Atlanta, and online at www.wrek.org. Richard Musterer calls the play-by-play for the Jackets, while Kurt Hoyt provides the color analysis. Florida State will also have a broadcast in Tallahassee on WFLA-AM 1270 and on its website, www.seminoles.com. Ryan Penny calls the play-by-play for the Seminoles, with Pam Cruz providing color. Livestats for the game will be available at ramblinwreck.com.
Series Notes
After going 2-1 against the Seminoles last season, the series between the Yellow Jackets and FSU is even at 14-14. Prior to those games, the Jac kets had managed just one win in the previous six games, dating back to January, 2000. The first game between the two teams was during the 1974-75 season, with FSU winning, 58-22. Last season, Tech lost the first contest against the Seminoles, 66-47 at FSU, before winning by 30 at home, 86-56, in the middle of February. The game at Alexander Memorial Coliseum marked the third-largest margin of victory for the Jackets in Tech history…the largest? 32 against the Seminoles in 1996. The two teams last faced each other in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in March, with Tech advancing to the next round with a close, 64-59 win. The Jackets have swept the yearly series three times, in the 93-94, 96-97, and 98-99, and have been swept three times, during the 97-98, 99-00, and 00-01 seasons.
Tech in ACC Openers
Georgia Tech is looking for its first conference opener win in nine years, with the Jackets’ last opener victory coming against none other than Florida State during the 1993-94 season. The Jackets won that contest by a 65-62 mark and have faced the Seminoles in three conference openers, going 2-1. The last time the Yellow Jackets faced FSU in a conference opener was just two years ago, with the Tribe winning on Tech’s homecourt by an 87-78 score. Georgia Tech is 5-20 in conference openers in its history, with the Jackets’ only wins coming against NC State, Clemson, Maryland, and Florida State. The only team in the ACC that the Jackets have NOT faced in a conference opener is Wake Forest.
A Look at FSU
Despite a 7-4 record, the Seminoles are playing some great basketball this season. Their only losses on the season have come to top-ranked Connecticut, 19th-ranked TCU, 17th-ranked LSU, and arch-rival Florida. Prior to the Seminoles’ near-40 point victory in their last game against Troy State, FSU battled to the end with LSU, losing by just seven points. They were led in scoring by Genesis Choice and Tasheika Allen, with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Ganiyat Adeduntan added 12.
The Seminoles have outscored their opponents by almost 10 points per game this season, and have collected almost 100 more rebounds this season than their competition. They have made 65 more field goals than their opponents and are shooting almost 60 points better, standing at 47% from the field on the season.
Top Seminoles: Tasheika Allen: 15.8 ppg, 15 steals, 37% 3-PT%; Genesis Choice: 12.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, .643 FG%; Shante Williams: 7.9 ppg, 51 assists, 4.5 rpg, 18 steals; Ganiyat Adeduntan: 6.8 ppg, 37% 3-PT%, 13 assists.
Last Time Out for the Jackets
Georgia Tech defeated Florida A&M 84-45 to capture the sixth Atlanta Marriott Northwest Holiday Invitational. Fallon Stokes led the Jackets in the contest with 14 points while earning MVP honors for the tournament. She joined Jessica Williams on the all-tournament team, after Williams led the Jackets the day before with a career-high 16 points against William & Mary. The Jackets received help off the bench in the championship game as they got a season-high 39 points from non-starters, including 12 from freshman Stephanie Higgs and eight from redshirt freshman April Johnson. The Jackets also pulled down a season-high 57 rebounds in the contest, while shooting 50% from the field and 46% from beyond the three-point arc.
Tech Vets Leading the Way
Georgia Tech seniors Fallon Stokes, Alex Stewart, and Megan Isom are leading the Jackets on and off the court this season, and the underclassmen are beginning to follow in their footsteps. All three are set to receive their bachelor’s degree this coming May; Stokes will be graduating with a degree in public policy, Stewart in international affairs, and Isom in business management.
Stokes currently leads the team in scoring (18.7 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg), minutes (31.9), field goals made (86), free throws made (52), offensive rebounds (31) and defensive rebounds (54). She has recorded six games this season scoring 20 or more points in the game and has scored double-figure points in her last 19 consecutive games dating back to last season. Leading the way in minutes (31.9), assists (65) and steals (21) for the Jackets is the point guard Stewart, while Isom leads Tech with 20 made three-pointers on the season. Stewart and Stokes are also the more experienced players as Yellow Jackets, as both have played at least 100 games in a Tech uniform. The Norcross, Ga. native Stewart has participated in 104 games in her career as a Yellow Jacket, while Stokes has played in an even 100. Isom stands third among the active players on this year’s roster with 72 games in her career at Tech. She also played in 32 games at Tennessee Tech before transferring following her freshman year.
Liking the Second Half
Even though Tech is outscoring its opponent by more than an average of 3.8 points in the first half of their contests, the Jackets turn up the heat in the latter half of their games, having scored 83 more points in the second half of games than the first this season.
One of the biggest pushes in those games is the second-half play of Tech’s Fallon Stokes. Stokes has scored 136 of her 224 total points in the second half of the contests this season, including 19 against Davidson, 18 versus Georgia and 15 against West Virginia in the final frame. She has scored equal to or the majority of her points in the second half in nine of 12 contests this year, and has scored 61% of her points in the final frame of contests.
She’s Not New on the Block
Yellow Jacket sophomore Kasha Terry played in 30 games in the 2002-03 season, and recorded 40 blocks along the way, establishing herself as a solid shot blocker within the ACC by averaging 1.3 per game. This season, the Douglasville, Ga., native has stepped it up even more, averaging 2.0 blocks per contest, including three games with three or more blocks recorded. She tied a career high of four blocks, set against Maryland last season, against Georgia State in early December Terry is currently second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in blocks per game.
The Lil’ Thief Gives Back
While Georgia Tech senior point guard Alex Stewart stands second on the team in scoring, she leads the team in assists, with 65 on the season and an average of 5.4 per game, and steals, with 21 on the year. Her 65 helpers is more than 40 percent of Tech’s total assists on the season, as the Yellow Jackets have a total of 162 on the year. Stewart had a season-high of nine assists against Southwest Missouri State at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas over the Thanksgiving holidays and then again at Princeton before the Christmas holiday. Her team-high 21 steals on the season more than a quarter of the Jackets’ 2003-04 total of 79. She stole a season-high four against Davidson in the Jackets’ first home game of the season and had three steals against both James Madison (in game one of the Paradise Jam) and Georgia State. She currently stands third in the ACC in assists and tied for 10th in steals on the season and for her career, Stewart has 405 helpers and 174 swipes to her credit.
The Magic Number is 70
While Georgia Tech is led by scorers Fallon Stokes and Alex Stewart, a huge part of the success of the Yellow Jackets has come at the other end of the court. Through the first nine games, Tech has kept nine of its opponents under 70 points, with five of those being held to under 60. In those seven games, Georgia Tech is 8-1, with the only loss coming at Old Dominion, 67-56. The lowest any team has scored this season against the Jackets is 45 points by Florida A&M on December 31 in the Atlanta Marriott Northwest Holiday Invitational, with Tech winning that game by 39 points. A year ago, Tech held 20 opponents under 70 points, with the Jackets’ winning 17 of those contests.
Stokes Having a “Grand” Senior Year
Senior Fallon Stokes was expected to step in and pick up the slack when Sonja Mallory left after a stellar four-year career at Tech, and she hasn’t disappointed. Through nine games this season, Stokes is averaging 18.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, both of which far exceed her career averages. Coming into the 2003-04 season, she was averaging 10.1 points per game while pulling down 4.9 rebounds per contest. She has had a season-high of 25 points on two occasions this season, with the most recent one coming against cross-town rival Georgia State. With a little over 17 minutes left in that game, Stokes also set a career mark, becoming just the 19th player in Georgia Tech history to score 1,000 points in their career. She currently has 1,110 points during her four years at Tech, making her 13th in career points at Georgia Tech. She stands just 48 points behind the 12th-place former Yellow Jacket guard Milli Martinez.
Stewart Looking For Milestones
Yellow Jackets senior guard Alex Stewart keeps moving up the Georgia Tech career charts with a stellar senior campaign. With 65 assists already this season, Stewart brings her career total to 405, which is the third-highest career total in Tech history. She is 103 assists behind Georgia Tech Hall of Famer Ida Neal (508), and the leader Tiffany Martin, who had 559. Martin stills stands sixth in the ACC record books while Neal is 15th.
When she suits up for today’s game, Stewart will be playing in the 105th game of her career at Georgia Tech. She is on pace to break the Tech career mark of 119 games, set by Karen Lounsbury in 1992, in the last game of the regular season against Wake Forest.
