Feb. 3, 2014
PITTSBURGH – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (14-8, 4-5 ACC) defeated Pittsburgh, 77-66, for the first time in school history at the Petersen Events Center on Monday night.
“I’m just really pleased with the way we played at the defensive end out on the road,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “We stopped their 3-point shooters. For us to keep them below five made threes, that was our goal. I’m really proud of our defensive effort. It was a total team effort and it feels good to get a win on the road.”
The Yellow Jackets held the Panthers to 32.4 percent shooting (22-for-68) and to 25 percent from 3-point range (5-for-20). The Jackets outrebounded their opponent for the 19th time this season, holding a 46-39 advantage on the boards. This was the first win against Pittsburgh in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history. The Jackets are now 1-1 in the series against their newest conference opponent.
“Again, Ty Marshall and Kaela Davis led us,” Joseph said. “Kaela had a double-double and she got the job done on the boards. Ty Marshall has been huge for us all year.”
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Freshman Kaela Davis recorded her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds. Senior Tyaunna Marshall led the way offensively for the Jackets, scoring a team-high 23 points and pulling down nine boards.
Marshall is now just 32 points away from surpassing Kisha Ford’s Georgia Tech’s all-time scoring record of 1,955 points. Marshall currently has 1924 career points. This was Marshall’s 11th game this season scoring at least 20 points and her fourth time scoring 20 or more points in the past five games.
“I thought that Aaliyah Whiteside was huge for us,” Joseph said. “She gives us a lot of versatility. She can play multiple positions on the floor. She really allows us to really change things up.”
Sophomore Aaliyah Whiteside’s tallied a season-high 18 points against the Panthers. This was her sixth game this season scoring in double-figures. Whiteside shot 6-for-8 from the floor and was perfect from the free throw line (6-for-6).
Pitt’s Loliya Briggs and Asia Logan combined to score the Panther’s first 11 points to put Pitt in its only lead of the game, 11-8. It took a little while for the Jackets to get in their offensive groove but once they did, he Jackets would then outscore Pittsburgh 9-2 to take its first lead of the night, 17-13, at 11:40. Whiteside contributed four points during the run. The Panthers would catch up to the Jackets lead twice in the next 2:56 minutes but Tech continued to go hard to the hoop to take a 31-26 lead with 5:55 left in the first half. Davis would score seven-straight points, including her first 3-pointer of the night, to extend the Jackets’ lead to 11, 38-27.
The Jackets would tack on five more points before the half, to head into the break with a 43-30 lead. Both Davis and Marshall scored 11 points each in the first half.
Coming out of halftime, Davis and Marshall combined for nine points to push Tech to a 52-37 lead at 14:41. Marshall’s jumper at the 15:23 mark would spark an 8-1 run for the Jackets to put Tech up, 56-38.
The Jackets’ defense held Pitt without a field goal for 3:42 as Tech went ahead, 62-44.. The Panthers began to crawl back at 8:55 when a tip in by Marquel Davis starter a 9-0 run for the Panthers.
At 5:39, a step back layup by sophomore Roddreka Rogers broke a 5:08 field goal drought for the Jackets and put Tech up, 64-51. The Panthers would cut their deficit to 10 points, 69-59 with 3:11 remaining.
Whiteside would go 4-for-4 from the free throw line with in the final two minutes of the game to secure the Jackets’ fourth conference win of the season and snap a two-game conference losing streak.
Pittsburgh was led by Davis, who scored 20 points. Asia Logon scored 13 for the Panthers and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
For an inside look at the program, follow Georgia Tech women’s basketball on Twitter, @GTWBB, Instagram, GTWBB, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensBasketball
The Yellow Jackets return home to host UNC on Thursday at 7 p.m. Thursday’s game against the Tar Heels will be on ESPN3 and it is also National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Tech will also honor its 2014 Women Out Front Class which recognizes females in the community that continue to make a positive impact.
–RamblinWreck.com–
