Jan. 15, 2014
By Jon Cooper The Good Word
Georgia Tech looks to gain its first ACC win and even its home conference record when it hosts Wake Forest tonight at McCamish Pavilion. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets dropped a hard-fought 76-70 decision at Syracuse their last time out, on Sunday afternoon. Ty Marshall was heroic, scoring a game-high 24 points, while also leading the team in rebounding (7) and assists (5). Center Nariah Taylor had a big game (13 points, seven rebounds), and forward Kaela Davis and point Dawnn Maye also scored in double figures, scoring 11 and 10, respectively.
In a game that saw 12 lead changes, Tech led 34-32 at the break and by nine inside of nine minutes. But the Orange outscored the Jackets 24-9 the rest of the way, including 9-3 over the final 2:28, once Marshall forged the game’s sixth and final tie. Tech held a 19-8 edge in second-chance points but was outscored 30-7 in fast break points.
The Demon Deacons fell to 0-3 in ACC play, dropping a 62-54 decision to NC State on Sunday at Joel Coliseum. Dearica Hamby had 13 points, all in the second half, and 12 rebounds (nine in the second 20), to lead Wake, but the home team shot only 30 percent, and only 17.6 percent from three-point range. The Deacons trailed only 20-14 at intermission despite shooting 18.5 percent (5-for-27) and missing all five 3-point attempts. They cut the lead to two early in the second half, but State answered with a 10-2 run to push the lead back to 12 and the game stayed at two possessions the rest of the way. Senior guard Chelsea Douglas struggled for the third straight game, shooting 2-for-15, 2-for 11 from behind the arc. She’s 4-for-40 (.100) and 3-for-24 (.125) in Wake’s three ACC games.
Today’s game will be the 63rd in a series that dates back to 1979. The Yellow Jackets hold a 38-24 edge and have won seven of the last eight. They really have dominated the series in Atlanta, having won five straight at home and 22 of 28.
The game can be seen on ESPN3 with Mike DeGeorge and Kurt Hoyt calling the action, and can be heard on WREK, 91.1 FM, or online at www.WREK.org with Richard Musterer and LaQuananisha Adams on the call. Fans can get live stats on RamblinWreck.com and also can get instant updates by following the team on Twitter at @GTWBB and can get more information on the team by liking them on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball.
And now, the Starting Five for tonight’s ACC contest.
The Last Time We Met: The Yellow Jackets were overwhelmed by Wake Forest’s big second half in falling, 86-67, in the first round of last year’s ACC Tournament on March 7, 2013, at Greensboro Coliseum. Ty Marshall had a game-high 22 points and grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds. But the Yellow Jackets, who led 43-36 at the break, shot only 22.5 percent in the second half (9-for-40) while Wake shot better than 55 percent and used a 23-2 run to blow the game open. Tech, which had a 12-0 edge off turnovers in the first half, was outscored 11-9 off giveaways in the second half, as well as 26-6 in the paint and 10-0 off the break.
Doing It All: Since getting healthy, Ty Marshall has been devastating for the Jackets on both ends of the floor. Marshall comes into tonight’s game ranked in the top 10 in scoring (18.2 ppg, a league-high 22.3 ppg in ACC play), rebounds (7.9 rpg, 8.7 in league play) and steals (2.5 spg). Ty is one of two players in the conference to rank in the top 10 in those three categories. She won’t have to look far tonight to find the other, as Wake forward Dearica Hamby (21.0 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.9 spg) is the other.
Ms. Clean: Marshall has not only been efficient scoring and defending, she’s also been superb taking care of the ball. Her clean game against Syracuse (five assists without a turnover) marked her sixth of the season and the 12th game in which she’s committed one-or-fewer turnovers. Marshall’s had more than one turnover only once in the last 10 games and in those games she’s had an assists-to-turnovers ratio of 5.6:1, handing out 34 assists against six turnovers.
Taylor Made: Sophomore center Nariah Taylor had a monster game against Syracuse. She scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds, both one off her career-high set on opening night. She also made six field goals in 12 attempts, both career-bests. Taylor set another season-high with her four offensive rebounds. She’s shooting 10-for-19 (52.6 percent) in ACC play, with 10 rebounds, seven of them off the offensive glass. The most important season-high Taylor set on Sunday was her 26 minutes played. That was four more minutes than her previous season-high set on Dec. 4 against Illinois, and nearly doubled her court time over the previous six games, when she averaged 13.8 mpg.
She’s Super Three-ky: Freshman guard Kaela Davis appears to be out of her shooting funk. In her last two games Davis has scored 37 points on 12-for-25 shooting (48.0 percent), and has locked in from three-point range, making 5-of-12 (41.7 percent). The back-to-back games with multiple three-point field goals are her first since Dec. 4 and 7 and snapped a stretch of six games in which she made only 7-of-41. This two-game streak follows a 1-for-9 ACC debut against Duke. Even with the slump, Davis still ranks fifth in the conference in three-pointers made (2.4 per game).
The Sixth Man: Coach MaChelle Joseph has an 11-5 record against Wake Forest. The .688 winning percentage is Joseph’s second-best among ACC schools — she holds a .773 edge over Clemson. Her 11 wins are third-most against an ACC school, behind only the 17 against Clemson and 12 against Miami…Georgia Tech has outrebounded its opponent in 13 consecutive games and has won the battle on the boards in 15 of 16 games this season. The Jackets pull in 47.5 rebounds per game and rank fourth in the ACC in rebounding margin (plus-9.7)…Freshman forward Katarina Vuckovic is on a streak of six straight multi-field goal games off the bench and has hit at least 40 percent of her shots in four of the six games…Senior guard Dawnn Maye is heating up. She’s scored 19 points and made 9 of her last 14 shots. That comes off a two-game stretch in which she went scoreless and shot 0-for-5…There is a 28.1-point difference between Georgia Tech wins and losses. The Jackets are scoring 89.9 points in victories vs. 61.8 in defeats. They’re out-rebounding opponents by 14.2 in wins but are getting out-rebounded by 1.4 in losses, and are getting to the foul line 11 more times in wins vs. losses (28-17).
GEORGIA TECH SCORING LEADER: Ty Marshall, 18.2 ppg WAKE FOREST SCORING LEADER: Dearica Hamby, 20.4 ppg
GEORGIA TECH SCORING LEADER (ACC): Ty Marshall, 22.3 ppg WAKE FOREST SCORING LEADER (ACC): Dearica Hamby, 16.7 ppg
GEORGIA TECH REBOUNDING LEADER: Ty Marshall, 7.9 rpg WAKE FOREST REBOUNDING LEADER: Dearica Hamby, 10.7 rpg
GEORGIA TECH REBOUNDING LEADING (ACC): Ty Marshall, Roddreka Rogers 8.7 rpg WAKE FOREST REBOUNDING LEADER (ACC): Dearica Hamby, 9.0 rpg
GEORGIA TECH ASSISTS LEADER: Dawnn Maye, 3.5 apg WAKE FOREST ASSISTS LEADER: Kelila Atkinson, 3.0 apg
GEORGIA TECH ASSISTS LEADER (ACC): Ty Marshall, 2.7 apg WAKE FOREST ASSISTS LEADER (ACC): Kelila Atkinson, 3.3 apg
GEORGIA TECH SCORING/ACC: 81.1/68.7 ppg. OPPONENT/ACC: 64.6/69.3 ppg.
WAKE FOREST SCORING/ACC: 70.9/52.0 ppg. OPPONENT/ACC: 69.8/74.0 ppg.
WAKE FOREST PLAYER TO WATCH: Dearica Hamby – The 6-3, junior forward from Marietta (Norcross) has recorded 12 double-doubles this season, including a streak that saw her record one in eight straight games — she had three total coming into the ’13-14 season. Hamby has led the team in scoring in eight of the last 11 games and has led in rebounding in 10 of the last 11. She’s first or second in the ACC in scoring (20.4 ppg, first), steals (2.9 spg, tied for first), rebounding (10.7 rpg, second) and defensive rebounding (6.9 drpg). Hamby played a big role in last year’s upset of the Jackets in the ACC Tournament, scoring 17 points, 13 of them in the second half.
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