Jan. 15, 2004
College Park, Md. – Chrissy Fisher scored 17 points off the bench to lead Maryland (12-4, 4-1 ACC) to a 91-87 win over Georgia Tech (10-6, 1-3) Thursday evening at the Comcast Center in College Park.
The Terrapins used clutch free throw shooting, converting on 9-of-12 from the charity stripe over the final minute to hold of the Yellow Jackets, who attempted a comeback by scoring 15 points, including 10 by sophomore Mallorie Winn, during that time.
Winn hit a pair of free throws with exactly one minute remaining on the clock to pull the Jackets to within eight points. Following a pair of free throws by Alli Spence, Winn hit a three to make the score 84-77. Maryland’s Shay Doron then converted on one of her two free throws before Winn was fouled going up for a shot. After hitting both free throws to make the score 85-79, Doron hit a pair from the charity stripe to give the Terps a seven-point lead. Megan Isom hit a jumper to pull the Jackets within five, but Maryland responded by making the next three free throws to make the score 90-81. Senior Fallon Stokes then hit a three-pointer, her second of the season, with 14.4 seconds remaining and following another free throw by Doron, Winn hit all three free throws with 0.4 seconds remaining in the game to make the final score 91-87.
“I thought their team played extremely hard,” said Georgia Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph, “and I’m very proud of our team. I thought that we battled and had some key players step up, some younger kids that hadn’t played much, and we were able to put some points on the board tonight. I was just really proud of our kids.”
Georgia Tech shot 90 percent from the free throw line, its best percentage since the Jackets played Wagner in 2000, including converting on 20-of-21 in the second half. Maryland shot just 70.3 percent from the charity stripe, led by seven from Doron and six from Spence.
For the game, the Terps shot 49.2 percent while the Jackets hit 46.7 percent of their shots. Stokes led all scorers in the contest with 18 points as five Yellow Jackets and five Terrapins scored in double figures. Freshman Kentrina Wilson, in her first start of the season for Tech, scored 11 points while pulling down five rebounds and blocking two shots. Winn scored 15, including a 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line, while Megan Harpring and April Johnson had 14 and 10, respectively, for the Jackets.
With the score tied 21-21 in the first half, the Terrapins used a 21-5 run, capped by a three-pointer from Fisher with 3:51 remaining in the frame, to take control of the contest. During that run, Fisher hit two three-pointers while Delvona Oliver added two jumpers. Oliver and Doron had nine points apiece for the Terps in the half, while Stokes led all scorers with 10 points with Wilson adding nine.
Fisher led the Terrapins with 17 points in the contest, while Kalika France added 16 points, six rebounds and three assists for Maryland. Doron and Oliver had 15 apiece and Spence scored 14 for the Terps.
The Yellow Jacket women will return home to face Clemson on Sunday, January 18, at 1 p.m. in a game that will be regionally televised on the Regional Sports Network (Fox Sports Net South, Comcast Sports Net, Sunshine Network.) Georgia Tech will also broadcast the game on WREK-Radio, 91.1 FM in Atlanta, and online at www.wrek.org, while livestats for the contest are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
