Feb. 17, 2013
RALEIGH, N.C. – Sophomore Sydney Wallace and junior Tyaunna Marshall led the scoring effort in Georgia Tech’s (11-14, 4-10 ACC) 79-70 win at NC State (13-13, 5-9 ACC) in the “Hoops 4 Hope” game as part of Play4Kay Week at Reynolds Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
Wallace made 10-of-20 field goals and knocked down four 3-pointers to lead Tech with 26 points. Marshall tossed in 22 for the Yellow Jackets. It was the seventh career game with at least 20 points for Wallace and the 21st for Marshall.
Freshman Roddreka Rogers powered Georgia Tech on the glass with a career-high 16 rebounds. Freshman Aaliyah Whiteside added 11 points for GT, her seventh game in double digits in this year.
“I’m very excited about the play of our team today,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “We feel like we’ve been in every game the last month and had chances to win. We lost to North Carolina in our last game by two. Our young players are growing up. We’re learning how to win a game and how to prepare to win a game. We had a bye week so we had a long break and we came back after it. I think you’re starting to see better play out of our young, freshmen post players.
“This is a special game for a lot of special reasons,” Joseph continued. “One of the things we talked about with our team all week was how important this game was in so many different aspects. How important it was to not only represent ourselves and our team, but the ACC and Kay Yow’s legacy and all the things she stood for. A lot of players on our team didn’t have a chance to compete against Kay Yow so it was up to me to share with them what a special person she was and the impact she had on our game. I thought today we played with a lot of toughness and a lot of heart. Hopefully it was a great game to watch and celebrate the life of a very special person.”
After NC State scored the opening bucket, Georgia Tech reeled off a 12-1 run to take a 12-3 lead just over five minutes into the game. By the time the game reached the under 12 media timeout, the Yellow Jackets had built their biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 24-6.
The Pack responded with a 10-0 run of its own over the next four minutes to cut the Jacket lead to single digits. A 9-0 State run late in the first half gave the Pack its first lead, 31-30, since it was 2-0 and NC State took a 34-32 halftime lead.
“[at halftime] We came together as a team, knew we had to stay together, stay focused, not give up and just play hard,” Wallace said. “We knew they were going to make a run, every game is full of runs. They made their run and we just came back and kept fighting.”
Tech opened the second half on an 8-0 run to re-gain the lead. The Jackets extended their lead to 10, 52-42, on a Whiteside 3-pointer on a Dawnn Maye assist at the 12:20 mark of the second half. NC State, backed by a Reynolds Coliseum crowd of 4,432, cut the Tech lead to just three, 61-58, on a Len’Nique Brown fastbreak layup with 5:33 to play.
A Whiteside three-point play gave Tech an eight-point lead with four minutes left. The Jackets extended their lead to as many as 13 on a Wallace layup with 1:33 to play. Tech converted its free throws down the stretch and made 21-of-29 for the game to seal the victory.
The Yellow Jackets will return to the Old North State for their second straight road game when Tech travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21. The contest with Wake Forest can be heard on WREK 91.1 FM.
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s basketball on Twitter, @GTWBB, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball, for an inside look at the program.
–RamblinWreck.com–
