Nov. 22, 2004
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team, 72-30 winners over cross-town rival Georgia State Friday evening, will play host to perennial national powerhouse Old Dominion at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech. The game will be part of a doubleheader with Division III Agnes Scott, which will play at AMC beginning at 3:30 p.m.
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The Jackets’ 30 points allowed against Georgia State in the season opener tied for the fewest points allowed in Georgia Tech history, set in 1996 against Maryland. The Jackets forced 26 Panther turnovers in the contest, leading to 18 Yellow Jacket steals and 26 points. Freshman point guard Jill Ingram led all players with six swipes in the game, while sophomore Stephanie Higgs came off the bench to record four steals.
“There is no doubt that we were pleased with the way that we came out defensively against Georgia State and it is obviously going to take that type of defensive effort against Old Dominion, which is a great offensive transition team,” said Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph. “I was glad to see that, between the two point guards [Jill Ingram and Stephanie Higgs], we had only one turnover. It’s pretty impressive, considering the fact that Jill was playing in her first collegiate game, and played 31 minutes with no turnovers.”
Junior forwards Jessica Williams and Kasha Terry lead the Jackets on the boards this season, with 11 and 10 rebounds respectively against Georgia State, while Ingram, Higgs and freshman Chioma Nnamaka all recorded double-figures in scoring.
“I thought our inside defensive effort was phenomenal, and I thought that Kasha looked particularly strong. I would like to see us score more consistently from all parts of the floor, but overall I was really happy with the way that our forwards did on the boards,” said Joseph.
Old Dominion will be playing in their first regular-season game in 2004-05 after the Lady Monarchs concluded their exhibition season 3-0 a week ago. ODU is led by senior Shareese Grant, who averaged more than 10 points per game last season, and will be looking for their first season-opening victory since the 2001-02 campaign.
“The key to the game for us will be being able to stop Old Dominion in transition because their guards are so quick and really do a great job of pushing the ball in the open floor,” Joseph said. “Obviously going into the Old Dominion game our focus will again be getting off to a good start on the defensive end of the court.”
The game will be broadcast on WREK-Radio, 91.1 FM in Atlanta and online at www.wrek.org, while livestats will be available on the Georgia Tech athletics website, www.ramblinwreck.com.
