Jan. 5, 2012
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (11-3, 1-0 ACC) has won six straight games and will face its toughest test of the season Friday, Jan. 6, when the Yellow Jackets travel to College Park, Md., to take on the No. 5/5 Maryland Terrapins (14-0, 1-0 ACC) in an 8:30 contest to be televised on the ACC’s regional sports network.
The Terps will be the fourth ranked team Tech has faced this year and the sixth team which has at least been getting votes in one of the two polls.
The Yellow Jackets opened ACC play with a 76-66 win at NC State Jan. 2. Tyaunna Marshall led three Jackets in double digits with 22 points, her third 20-plus point effort of the season and ninth of her young career. Dawnn Maye registered 11 first-half points and finished with a career-best 17, while point guard Metra Walthour added 13 points and dished out seven assists. Chelsea Regins came off the bench for a game-high 11 rebounds and narrowly missed her first double-double of the year with nine points.
Maryland opened league play with a 91-70 win at Florida State. Four Terps finished in double digit scoring against the Noles, including three with at least 20 points, led by sophomore Laurin Mincy’s 23. Junior Tianna Hawkins (20 pts, 13 rebs) and sophomore Alyssa Thomas (21 pts, 10 rebs) each had double-doubles in the Maryland win.
On This Date: Georgia Tech is 4-5 all-time when playing on January 6, including wins over No. 8 North Carolina and No. 20 Maryland.
The four wins: 71-70 vs. #8/8 North Carolina (1/6/11); 73-62 at Wake Forest (1/6/00); 81-80 (OT) vs. #20/19 Maryland (1/6/87); 80-71 at Armstrong State (1/6/79);
The five losses: 89-78 at #7/7 North Carolina (1/6/10); 75-63 at NC State (1/6/02); 78-74 vs. North Carolina (1/6/96); 85-72 at Wake Forest (1/6/91); 99-58 vs. North Carolina (1/6/83);
ACC Opening Wins: The January 2 victory at NC State gave Georgia Tech its second straight ACC opening win. The last time the Yellow Jackets won consecutive ACC openers was in head coach MaChelle Joseph’s first two seasons, 2003-04 and 2004-05, both of which came over Florida State.
Tech Against The ACC: Georgia Tech owns a 153-305 (.334) all-time regular season record against the Atlantic Coast Conference. Head Coach MaChelle Joseph is 53-62 in ACC games. The Jackets are seeking their second straight win over Maryland and second consecutive win over the Terps in College Park. Last season, Maryland defeated Georgia Tech in the lone regular season meeting in Atlanta, which gave the Terrapins the tie break as the two tied for fourth. The Yellow Jackets earned a season split by beating Maryland in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Tech’s Wins Against Ranked Foes All-time, Tech has notched 32 wins against ranked foes and all but four of those wins have come against ACC teams, including five times against Maryland. The Terps were ranked No. 4 when the Jackets beat them 77-72 Feb. 1, 2007, at the AMC.
Seven of Tech’s wins over ranked opponents have come on the road, the last being over No. 13/16 North Carolina,64-57, Feb. 24, 2011.
Joseph Knows How To Take Down The Ranked Since head coach MaChelle Joseph took the reins of the Tech program prior to the 2003-04 season, the Yellow Jackets have beaten nine ranked foes, including two over Maryland. During her playing days at Purdue, Joseph helped the Boilermakers to 13 wins over ranked opponents in four years.
Team Tyler: The Georgia Tech coaches and staff will wear green on Friday night against the Terps as part of Maryland’s Leukemia Awareness Night in partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Team Tyler Foundation, a foundation started by Maryland head coach Brenda Frese, whose son Tyler was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was two-and-a-half years old.
NCAA Stats: Through games of January 1, Georgia Tech is ranked in the top 20 in six statistical categories nationally (scoring margin, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, assists per game, steals per game, turnover margin and 3-point field goal defense) and are top 50 in 10 categories.
Alphabet Soup: In the initial NCAA RPI released January 3, Georgia Tech is ranked 15th, second in the ACC behind only Maryland. In the rankings done by the website RealTimeRPI.com, which does both RPI and Strength of Schedule (SOS), the Jackets are 15th in RPI and 16th in SOS. Again, the Jackets are second in RPI to only Maryland and are second in SOS behind only Florida State.
