March 1, 2002
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team, seeded fifth for just the second time in school history will begin play in the 25th ACC Tournament with a showdown against fourth-seeded Virginia on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C. The contest will be broadcast on the ACC’s regional sports network, which includes Fox Sports Net South.
The Yellow Jackets (15-12, 7-9 ACC) enter the tournament with their highest seed since the 1993 season and will face a Cavalier (16-11, 9-7 ACC) team that it split the regular season series with in 2002.
Tech will look to snap a two-game losing skid in the tournament and build off of a regular-season-ending win over Morris Brown (111-40) on February 23. Overall in ACC tournament play, the Jackets hold a 4-22 record in 22 previous appearances.
The Jackets got their postseason off to a strong start this week, placing four players on the 2002 All-ACC team. Senior Milli Martinez and junior Sonja Mallory headed up the group as they were both named to the second team, while senior Regina Tate earned third-team honors and Nina Barlin was an honorable mention selection. Martinez was also named to the ACC’s five-member All-Defensive team for the first time in her carer.
Tech’s 71-point drubbing of Morris Brown to finish the regular season ended a four-game losing streak for the Jackets and assured them of a winning final record.
Martinez became the third Yellow Jacket to record a triple-double against Morris Bown, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. The Imlay City, Mich., native joined current Tech assistant coach Kisha Ford and current teammate Alex Stewart as the only players to accomplish the feat. Tech is now the only school with three triple-doubles in its women’s basketball history.
Mallory returned to form against the Wolverines, as she netted a career-best 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while also recording two blocks and three steals.
The Jackets had six players score in double figures for the second time this year and had three players record double-doubles in a single game for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
Georgia Tech leads the ACC and is sixth nationally with a rebound margin of +10.4.
The meeting between the Jackets and Cavs will be the seventh between the two teams in the ACC Tournament, with UVa holding a perfect 6-0 record in those match-ups.
The winner of the contest will face the winner of the game between top-seeded Duke and ninth-seeded Florida State on Friday night at 8 p.m. Full tournament results will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com and www.theacc.com .
