Nov. 17, 2004
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball game hosts cross-town rival Georgia State Friday evening at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in the second game of a doubleheader with the men’s basketball team.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The contest is slated to begin at 8 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the men’s game, which begins at 5:30 p.m. against Alabama State.
“One of the things that we were really excited about entering this season was the opportunity that [Georgia Tech men’s head coach] Paul Hewitt gave us to play in a doubleheader with the men’s team,” Georgia Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “The have a tremendous amount of support surrounding their team and we are hopeful that those fans will stay loyal and around long enough to get an idea of how special this young group can be.”
The women’s team returns seven letterwinners from the 2003-04 squad, but lost three starters and a total of six lettermen. Expected to lead the Yellow Jackets’ offense in 2004-05 are the junior trio of Megan Harpring, Kasha Terry and Jessica Williams, all three of which spent time in the starting lineup a season ago. Williams is the top returning scorer and rebounder, with 5.7 points and rebounds per game a season ago, while Kasha Terry was the top shot-blocker in the conference last season. Harpring, one of the Jackets’ top three-point threats, also returns as one of the most accurate free-throw shooters in Georgia Tech history.
“We are really excited about having the opportunity to open up at home, especially because we have such a young team,” Joseph said. “We know how important this game is because it’s an intra-state rival, and we have the opportunity to play both of our in-state rivals early this season.”
Georgia Tech faces a tough Georgia State team, which was picked to finish first in their preseason conference poll. The Panthers are led by seniors April Clyburn (17.0 points, 9.5 rebounds in preseason) and Patechia Hartman (18.5 points, 4.5 assists in preseason). Hartmon and Monica Thomas led the Panthers with 13 and 19 points, respectively, against the Jackets a year ago, while Clyburn added 10.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for Georgia State because we always play a competitive game against them,” said Joseph. “Lea Henry does an excellent job of coaching her team and bringing in good players and we are looking forward to Friday night.”
The game can be heard in Atlanta on WREK-FM, 91.1, and online at www.wrek.org, while livestats are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
