Tech Women to Host Top-Ranked Duke Thursday

Jan. 7, 2004

ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team will take on the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils this Thursday, January 8, at 7 p.m. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive vouchers for $1 hotdogs, while the first 2,000 people will receive free waterbottles. Georgia Tech will also be handing out $1 vouchers for refills on soft drinks during the game. 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. Duke will also have a broadcast in Durham on WDNC-AM 620. Steve Barnes is in his seventh year as the play-by-play voice of the Blue Devils while Missy Anderson handles the color commentary duties. Livestats for the game will be available at ramblinwreck.com.

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Series Notes

The Jackets head into the game looking to end a 21-game losing skid to the Blue Devils. The last time that Georgia Tech defeated Duke was on February 27, 1994 at home by a 61-56 score. Coming into that contest, the Jackets had won three of the previous four against the Blue Devils. In the 21 contests since that win, however, the Jackets have had opportunities, coming as close as one point in a 74-73 loss in 1999, and have been within 10 points at the conclusion of five of those contests. Overall, the Jackets are 7-43 against the Blue Devils, and 5-18 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

The highest offensive output that the Jackets had against Duke was a 97-point performance in an overtime win at Cameron Indoor January 28, 1989. Georgia Tech scored just 40 points in Durham in 1983 to mark its lowest point total against the Blue Devils.

The first game between the two teams was January 13, 1979, with Duke winning by a 70-55 score on their homecourt. The Jackets last met the Blue Devils March 9, 2003 in the ACC Tournament, where the Blue Devils dropped Georgia Tech by a 76-52 mark. At the time, Duke was ranked second in the nation behind Connecticut in both polls.

Tech vs. Ranked Opponents

Georgia Tech is looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since its 65-61 victory over the 22nd-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in last year’s Russell Athletic Shootout. The last time that the Jackets defeated a ranked ACC team was during the 2001-02 season, when the Jackets downed the 17th-ranked Tar Heels, 81-62, on their home court.

Overall, Georgia Tech is 22-165 against ranked opponents in history and have yet to earn a victory over a top-ranked team. The Jackets have only played against seven teams that were ranked atop the polls, and all but one of those teams was an ACC opponent. The last time that Georgia Tech faced a top-ranked team was last season, when they lost to the Blue Devils by a 79-59 score against Duke at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Looking at the Blue Devils

After losing its season opener, 77-85 to third-ranked Texas, the Duke Blue Devils hold an 11-1 overall record, and are 2-0 in conference play. The Blue Devils knocked off the top-ranked Huskies of Connecticut to open the New Year on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jessica Foley and built upon that win to earn a 79-66 victory over Florida State two days later to remain undefeated in conference play to open the season.

Leading the way for the Blue Devils is the returning ESPN.com Player of the Year Alana Beard and All-American Iciss Tillis. Beard ranks at the top of the ACC in scoring again this season, averaging 19.3 points per game, while Tillis stands third on the Duke team with 13.1 per game. Beard also leads her team with 58 assists and 41 steals on the season while averaging .514 from the field. Tillis leads Duke with an average of 7.6 rebounds per game and leads the ACC with a .967 free throw percentage. Monique Currie returns this season to stand second on the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.6) and is shooting .532 from the field and .778 from the charity stripe. Also scoring in double figures for the Blue Devils this season is Mistie Bass, who is averaging 11.3 points per contest and leads the team with a .625 average from the field.

Joseph and Goestenkors

Although MaChelle Joseph and Gail Goestenkors will meet on the hardwood for the first time in history as opposing head coaches, they share a history dating back to 1989 when Joseph began her first season as a member of the Purdue basketball team. At the time, Goestenkors was an assistant coach at the school and actually recruited Joseph to play for the Boilermakers program. Goestenkors left the Purdue program following the 1992 season, Joseph’s senior year, to become the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils.

Tech Among ACC Leaders

With the Georgia Tech senior starters stepping up, Georgia Tech ranks at or near the top in several individual categories and is moving up in the team standings as the year progresses. Fallon Stokes and Alex Stewart are leading the way, with the rest of the Yellow Jackets not far behind. Stokes, a forward from Atlanta, ranks second in the scoring category in the ACC with an average of 18.6 points per contest. She also ranks in the top 12 in the three rebounding categories, offensive (t-12th, 2.46 pg), defensive (6th, 4.38 pg) and total rebounds (8th, 6.8 pg), and also stands 11th with a .704 free throw percentage.

The Norcross native Stewart joins Stokes as one of the top scorers in the ACC, as she stands tied for 26th with an average of 9.2 points per game, but her forte is assisting others in scoring, as she leads the ACC with an average of 5.77 helpers per game. She also stands in the top 15 in several other categories however, as she’s ninth in free throw percentage (.723), tied for ninth in both defensive rebounds (4.00) and steals (1.92), 12th in assist/turnover ratio, 13th in total rebounding (5.8 pg), and 15th in three-point field goals made per game, with 0.92.

Senior Megan Isom, a shooting guard from Decatur, has remained near the top of the league in the three-point stats, holding at fourth with an average of 1.77 threes per game and 14th with a .311 three-point field goal percentage.

Rounding out the top 15 for the Jackets in other categories are sophomores Kasha Terry, who leads the league with an average of 2.33 blocks per game, and Jessica Williams, standing tied for fourth in offensive rebounds (2.85 pg) and tied for 14th with 5.6 total rebounds per contest.

She’s Not New to 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 2.33 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 and then set a new career-high against Florida State with six blocks in the conference opener. In the game, she also recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The last player to record more than six blocks in a game for the Yellow Jackets was during the 1990-91 season, when Allison Echols tied the Tech record with nine blocked shots against East Tennessee State. She tied the record that she set the year before against conference foe Clemson. Terry is currently leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in blocks per game.

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 13 games, Tech has kept 10 of its opponents under 70 points, with six of those being held to under 60. In those 10 games, Georgia Tech is 9-1, 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.

Tech Ends Drought in Conference Openers

The Yellow Jackets ended a nine-year drought in conference openers when they defeated Florida State, 66-59, to open ACC play on January 2nd. Tech received timely three-point shooting from Megan Isom late in the second half and then converted on six of seven from the charity stripe in the last minute of the contest to hold on for the win. The Jackets were paced by Fallon Stokes with 18 points, while Kasha Terry came out strong with the first double-double of her career, with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while blocking a career-high six Seminole shots. Isom was the only other Yellow Jacket to score in double figures, as she recorded 13 while senior point guard Alex Stewart had a season-high 10 assists in the game. Georgia Tech went into the contest with a 5-20 record in conference openers, with its last win coming during the 1994-95 season to Maryland.

Joseph Opens First Year on Winning Note, Overall & in the ACC

Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph began her first season as a head coach with a 73-62 victory at Florida Atlantic. Prior to her promotion, Joseph served two years as an assistant at Tech under Agnus Berenato. Joseph became just the sixth head coach in Georgia Tech’s 29 years of women’s basketball and only the third to win their season opener in their first year. She holds a 10-3 record through the first half of the 2003-04 season and needs just five wins to pass Agnus Berenato for the most wins by a first-year head coach at Georgia Tech.

On January 2, Joseph became the first head coach in Tech history to win her conference opener, as the Jackets defeated Florida State in Alexander Memorial Coliseum by a 66-59 score. Should she earn the five wins to become the winningest first-year head coach at Georgia Tech, she would also record the most conference victories in the first year at the helm of this program.