Nov. 21, 2001
ATLANTA – Fresh off of a road victory over preseason Northeast Conference favorite Long Island on Sunday, the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team will look to continue its winning ways when it hosts the Atlanta Marriott NW Classic on Friday and Saturday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The two-day, four-team tournament will get under way on Friday afternoon with the Yellow Jackets (1-1) facing UNC Asheville in the first game at 1:00 p.m., that contest will be followed at 3:00 p.m. by a match-up between Eastern Washington and Hartford. Saturday, the event will continue with the consolation game beginning at 1:00 p.m. and the championship following that at 3:00 p.m.
Georgia Tech will be looking for its fourth-straight title in its home tournament, as the Jackets defeated Mount Saint Mary’s 102-90 in the championship game in 2000. A year ago, current Tech junior Tamika Boatner was named the event’s Most Valuable Player.
Boatner is coming off of the top game of her career as a Yellow Jacket, after she helped lead the Yellow Jackets to an 80-49 win over LIU. The third-year performer netted a career-high-tying 16 points, including her first career three-point basket on her first three-point attempt as a player at Tech. Joining Boatner as one of Tech’s leaders against the Blackbirds was junior center Sonja Mallory, who netted 18 points and earned game-high honors in the contest. Through two games in 2001-02, Mallory leads the Jackets with a 17.5 point per game scoring average.
Another player that has been solid early in the year for Tech has been senior forward Regina Tate, whose return to action after an injury last year has boosted the Jackets with Tate already averaging 16.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per contest.
Tech’s meeting with UNC Asheville will be the fifth in the series between the two schools, with the Yellow Jackets holding a 3-1 lead in the all-time series. The schools have not met since 1988, when Tech grabbed a 78-63 win. For the other participants in the tournament Eastern Washington and Hartford, this weekend will mark the first trip to the Flats, as a meeting with Georgia Tech on the second day of the tourney would be the first in the series between the two schools.
All of Georgia Tech’s games in the tournament can be heard on 91.1 WREK-FM and at www.ramblinwreck.com, with the website also providing live stats.
