Nov 17, 2002
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Georgia Tech stopped the player it wanted to Sunday. It just happened to be the wrong player.
The Yellow Jackets held Laurie Koehn, last season’s best 3-point shooter in the nation, to two 3-point goals, but it forgot about Kansas State’s other guard.
Megan Mahoney hit 4-of-5 3-pointers for 16 points and had 13 assists to lead No. 5 Kansas State 83-59 Sunday in the second round of the preseason WNIT.
“I’m very pleased with her balance and she really shot the ball extremely well today,” coach Deb Patterson said. “She walked off the court with a double-double. She’s playing very solid across the board.”
With Mahoney’s help, Kansas State made 8-of-12 3-pointers and held the Yellow Jackets to four field goals in the second half. The win sets up a semifinal Wednesday in Manhattan with Southern California, which beat Colorado State 59-58.
Georgia Tech coach Agnus Berenato said the plan was to limit Koehn.
“We held her to two 3s and that’s good, but we don’t shoot 70 percent from 3,” the coach said. “So we can’t handle that when a team shoots that.”
Nicole Ohlde had 20 points, Kendra Wecker added 19 and Koehn had 13 for Kansas State. Mahoney shot 6-of-10 from the floor.
“I’m just playing,” Mahoney said. “I’m not doing anything spectacular. My teammates are the ones making buckets.”
Sonja Mallory led Georgia Tech (1-1) with 21 points and Fallon Stokes had 15. Kasha Terry had 11 rebounds.
A 7-1 run to start the second half gave Kansas State a 54-44 lead with 16:34 left. Georgia Tech cut the lead to eight, but never got closer. Wecker and Mahoney made back-to-back 3s and ignited a 13-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 69-48 lead with 10 minutes to go.
“They were playing horse out there,” Berenato said. “They’re saying H before it goes up. And then the next one has O.”
Kansas State, which led by as many as 25, shot 51 percent in the first half and made 9-of-13 3-pointers in the game. Georgia Tech outrebounded Kansas State 42-34, but the Wildcats scored 21 points off Yellow Jacket turnovers. Kansas State held the Yellow Jackets to 14 percent from the floor.
“It just took playing defense as five instead of one or two,” Patterson said.
Georgia Tech trimmed a 30-21 lead to a point in the first half after Kasha Terry hit a jumper with 1:10 left to cap a 6-0 stretch. A 3-pointer by Koehn silenced the rally and the Wildcats took a 47-43 lead at halftime.
