Women's Hoops Faces LSU In First Round

March 22, 2014

The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team earned its seventh at-large berth in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in the past eight seasons. The Yellow Jackets received a #10 seed and will play seventh-seeded LSU in the first round in Baton Rouge on Sunday at 12:50 p.m. on ESPN2. Fans can listen to Richard Musterer and LaQuananisha Adams on WREK 91.1.

The Jackets will play at the LSU Tigers for the first time in school history. Joining Georgia Tech at the Baton Rouge site in the Louisville region is #2 seeded West Virginia and #15 seeded Albany (NY). West Virginia and Albany play on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

The last time the Jackets appeared in the Big Dance, they made school history, advancing to Tech’s first-ever Sweet 16. In three out of their last four appearances, Tech has won its first round game. Georgia Tech is 5-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 5-6 under Joseph. The Jackets have gone 4-2 in the first round in their last six appearances.

Tech finished the 2013-14 season with a 20-11 record and went 9-7 in ACC play. The Jackets most recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament before falling to eventual runner up, #10 Duke.

TECH TIDBITS
– Senior Tyaunna Marshall became Georgia Tech’s all-time leading scorer against #13/11 UNC on Feb. 6, 2014 after scoring 32 against the Tar Heels to break Kisha Ford’s record of 1,955 points. Marshall scored 20 points against Virginia to become the first Yellow Jacket and 24th ACC player to reach the 2,000 point mark. She currently has 2,109 career points which ranks 18th on the ACC’s career list.
– Marshall leads all active ACC players in career 20 point games with 40. She has 16 this season.
– Out of the Jackets’ 20 wins so far this season, 10 games have been won by 20 or more points with its biggest margin of victory being 50 points against Portland State.
– In 16 out of 30 games, the Jackets have scored at least 80 points. Tech is averaging 79.7 ppg.
– In 25 out of Tech’s 31 games, at least one Jacket has scored 20 points or more. Davis has scored 20+ in 13 games while Marshall has scored at least 20 in 15. Both Marshall and Davis scored more than 20 against UTEP, Clemson, #6 Maryland, #13 UNC, Virginia twice and Boston College. Wallace hit the 20-point mark against Miami and Florida State and Whiteside scored 21 at Notre Dame and against Boston College
-The Jackets were on a 15-game streak of outrebounding their opponents, until Virginia Tech edged the Jackets by one rebound. Tech has won the rebounding battle in 24 out of 31 games this season and average 44.5 rpg. The Jackets are 17-7 when they outrebound their opponent.
– The Yellow Jackets averaged an impressive 92 points per game at home during its non-conference portion of its schedule on its way to a 7-0 record at McCamish.

GEORGIA TECH IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Yellow Jackets are 5-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Jackets have made the NCAA Tournament seven out of the last eight season under coach Joseph. Joseph is 5-6 in the NCAA Tournament, going 4-2 in the first round.

The last time the Jackets appeared in the Big Dance, they made school history, advancing to Tech’s first-ever Sweet 16. In three out of their last four appearances, Tech has won its first round game.

Under Joseph’s direction, the Jackets have been named as high as a #4 seed (2012) and as low as a #10 seed (2008).

A WIN WOULD…
– Make Coach Joseph 214-133 overall in her career
– Be the first win against LSU in Tech history
– Make Tech 6-8 overall in the NCAA Tournament
– Put the Jackets at 6-6 under Coach Jo in the NCAA Tournament
– Be the fifth first round win for Coach Joseph in the NCAA Tournament
– Be the fifth time the Jacket have advanced to the second round

BY THE NUMBERS
An inside look at the statistical differences in the Yellow Jackets’ wins and losses:
– In wins, Tech is averaging 87.2 ppg. In losses, the Jackets have averaged 66.2 ppg.
– In wins, Tech allows only 66.9 ppg. In losses, opponents have tallied 78.0 ppg.
– In wins, opponents are shooting only 37.8 percent from the field. In losses, opponents are shooting at 45.4 percent.
– In wins, Tech is out-rebounding opponents by 9.9 boards per game. In losses, Tech is being out-rebounded by 1.5 per game.
– In wins, Tech is averaging 28 free throw attempts per game. In losses, the Jackets are only getting 18 attempts from the stripe.
– In wins, Marshall is averaging 20.9 ppg and Davis is averaging 19.7 ppg. Marshall averages 17.4 ppg and Davis averages 16.7 ppg in losses.

GEORGIA TECH’S ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER
Senior Tyaunna Marshall became Georgia Tech’s all-time leading scorer against #13/11 North Carolina on Feb. 6, 2014 after scoring 32 points against the Tar Heels to break Kisha Ford’s record of 1,955 points. She hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds left to break the record and secure the Jackets’ first win against a ranked opponent since 2012. Marshall is one of just five Yellow Jackets all-time with at least 1,500 career points and 600 career rebounds. With 589 points this season, Marshall is the first Jacket to score 500 points in three-straight seasons. She is eight points away from breaking the GT record of most points in a season, which is 596.

Marshall became the first Yellow Jacket and 24th ACC player to score 2,000 career points after she scored 20 points against Virginia on Feb. 14. What is more remarkable is that Marshall has only made 20 3-pointers in her entire career – meaning that her 869 field goals and 351 made free throw shots. Marshall currently ranks 18th all-time in the ACC record book. Marshall leads all active ACC players in career 20 point games with 40. She has 16 this season.

DAVIS SETS ACC AND TECH FRESHMAN RECORD
Against Virginia in the ACC Tournament, Davis broke Karen Lounsbury’s (1988-89) freshman scoring record of 539 points with 578 points this season. Her 578 points broke the ACC freshmen single season record for points scored. Davis topped Wake Forest’s Tracy Conner’s 576 points that were scored in 1992-93. She is just the third freshman to score 500 points in their first season on the Flats.

ALL-ACC
Georgia Tech senior Tyaunna Marshall has been selected to the All-ACC First Team and freshman Kaela Davis has been selected to both the All-ACC Second Team and All-Freshman Team by the ACC’s Blue Ribbon Panel, which consists of media and school representatives and the ACC’s head coaches. Marshall was also named to the ACC All-Defensive team by the league’s head coaches.

Marshall is the first Yellow Jacket to be named to the All-ACC First Team twice in her career. The 5′ 9″ guard was honored as a junior on the All-ACC First Team and was the first Jacket to be named to the All-ACC First Team since Sonja Mallory was selected to the team in 2003. Marshall is just the fourth Jacket to earn All-ACC First Team accolades. This is also Marshall’s second consecutive year being named to the All-Defensive Team. She is the fifth Yellow Jacket to be named to the All-ACC Defensive Team. Marshall joins Jacqua Williams (2008, 2009) as the only Jacket to garner All-ACC Defensive Team honors two seasons in a row.

After a stellar freshman season, Davis has been named to both the All-ACC Second Team and All-Freshman Team. Davis leads all ACC rookies with her 18.7 ppg and leads the Jackets with 2.7 made 3-pointers a game. In her freshman season, Davis has recorded 14 20 point games and led the team in scoring in 15 games. Davis was named the Rookie of the Week four times this season.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
The Tech individual season record for most points scored in a season is 596 (Joyce Pierce 1991-92), putting Marshall just eight points away from breaking it and Davis 19 points away from breaking it. Marshall’s 589 points this season has her in second in GT history for points in an individual season, while Davis checks in at third with 578.

The 2013-14 Jackets also have a shot at breaking the record for most total points scored in a season for GT. The Jackets have scored 2,471 points which is third in Tech’s single season record book. They need 81 points to break the record of 2,551 points which was set in the 1991-92 season over 33 games.

MARSHALL IS GEORGIA’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR
For the second season in a row, senior Tyaunna Marshall was named the Georgia Women’s College Player of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. This is the fifth straight year that a Yellow Jacket has won the award after Marshall also garnered the honor in 2012-13. A Tech player has claimed the honor in six of the last seven years. Marshall’s honor marks the sixth time a Jacket has been named the Georgia Women’s College Player of the Year under head coach MaChelle Joseph.

20-20-20
Against Boston College, three Jackets scored at least 20 points – Davis (22), Marshall (22) and Whiteside (21). The three 20-point performances by Davis, Marshall and Whiteside marks the first time three Jackets have each scored at least 20 points since Alex Montgomery (26), Janie Mitchell (20) and Iasia Hemingway (20) accomplished the feat against Maryland on Jan. 20, 2008.

STARTING THEM OFF RIGHT
In six of her 11 seasons at the helm of Georgia Tech, head coach MaChelle Joseph has had a freshman be named to the All-ACC Freshman team. Most recently, Kaela Davis was named to the team, making it the fourth straight year that a Yellow Jacket freshman has been honored on the team. Davis joins Chioma Nnamaka (2005), Alex Montgomery (2008), Tyaunna Marshall (2011), Sydney Wallace (2012) and Brittany Jackson (2013) as the six All-Freshman honorees under Joseph.