Nov. 19, 2009
Gameday CentralGame #3 Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009Opponent: Florida Gulf CoastSite: Alexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191)Tip-Off: 2:00 p.m. ETRadio: WREK 91.1 FM/www.WREK.orgTalent: Richard Musterer (pbp) and Kurt Hoyt (analyst)Live Stats: www.RamblinWreck.comTickets: $8 adults/$6 youth, seniors Georgia Tech students free 1-(888) TECH-TIX www.RamblinWreck.com/wbbtix
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball team (1-1) will close out the Preseason WNIT with a third round game against Florida Gulf Coast (1-1) Sat., Nov. 21. Tip off at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at the Henry F. McCamish, Jr. Basketball Complex is slated for 2:00 p.m.
TECH VS. FLORIDA GULF COAST
• This will mark the first meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Eagles.
• Both teams have a player from Australia on its roster (GT-Brigitte Ardossi, FGCU-Kiara Bomben).
• The Yellow Jackets have two players from Florida (Chelsea Regins, Shayla Bivins) on its roster.
• Tech is 44-18 (.710) all-time against teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
JACKETS PARTICIPATING IN PRESEASON WNIT
The Yellow Jackets are participating in their second Preseason WNIT. They defeated WInthrop in the first round and fell to Oklahoma State in the second. The Yellow Jackets will now face Florida Gulf Coast in its final game of the tournament.
The 2009 field also includes No. 3/3 Ohio State, West Virginia, Marist, New Mexico, Bowling Green, Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, North Carolina A&T, Northern Colorado, Towson and UTEP.
Six teams from the field entered the tournament nationally ranked or receiving votes in the two preseason polls.
The last time Tech participated in the Preseason WNIT was in 2002 it opened up with a 67-57 win over Charlotte but lost to No. 5 and eventual Preseason WNIT champion Kansas State in the second round, 83-59.
WHATS IN A NAME?
The Yellow Jackets, who defeated the Winthrop Eagles on opening night, will face another group of Eagles Saturday. The Jackets will face an Eagles squad twice in its first three games.
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
Since Joseph began her tenure, Georgia Tech is 70-22 (.761) at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Last season, Tech finished with a 13-2 mark on the Coliseum floor. Tech is scheduled to play 13 games at the AMC in 2009-10.
MONTGOMERY GETTING HEALTHY
Junior Alex Montgomery, who has been recovering from a knee injury all summer, has been cleared to practice with the team. The Yellow Jacket coaching staff hopes to have her back in action in December.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Alex Montgomery, an All-ACC third team member a year ago, is only 255 points shy of becoming the 23rd player in Yellow Jacket history to reach this milestone. Montgomery scored 335 points her freshman season and added 410 as a sophomore.
SENIOR CLASS LOOKING FOR MORE WINS
The 2009-10 senior class, Brigitte Ardossi and Tiffany Blackmon, have been part of 66 wins in their three seasons on the Flats. The Jackets need 14 wins in 2009-10 for this years seniors to become the winningest senior class in the history of the women’s basketball program. Last years seniors hold the current record with 79 victories.
PERIMETER BOUND
With the team’s added depth in the post, head coach MaChelle Joseph has decided to move senior Brigitte Ardossi to the perimeter.
Ardossi has shown the ability to knock down jumpers and will cause mismatches for the defense.
ARDOSSI THE AUSSIE
Senior Brigitte Ardossi, if nothing else, has been extremely consistent over her three-plus seasons on the Flats. The Melbourne, Australia native has played in all 99 games since she came to Tech and has started 50 of them. As a junior, she averaged 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting a team-best 81.9 percent from the free-throw line.
This season, coach Joseph expects big things from her senior “enforcer”. She is putting up 8.5 points and 4.5 boards per game so far and has connected on seven-of-eight free-throw attempts.
CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2009-10 SEASON
Senior Brigitte Ardossi and juniors Alex Montgomery and Deja Foster were named team captains for the 2009-10 season.
94 FEET WITH THE JACKETS
Over the past two seasons, Georgia Tech has led the NCAA in steals per game. This has to be credited to Coach Joseph’s pressing defense. Joseph will press for 40 minutes with numerous pressing schemes to keep the offense offbalance. Joseph wants her team to “be an impressive running defensive team that creates opportunities for the offense.” The team has totaled 890 steals the past two years, good for 13.9 per game.
The Yellow Jackets started 2009-10 with 28 steals (14.0 pg) in the first two games.
SIX-FEET OVER GROUND
Two seasons ago, head coach MaChelle Joseph called her squad “the best six-feet and under team in the country.” Today she lists 10 players on the 13-player roster at 6-0 or taller, including five players that are 6-3 or taller. Though tall, the players are also very athletic and quick.
WET BEHIND THE EARS
The 2009-10 Yellow Jackets are not only tall, they are young. Tech once again only has four upperclassmen on its roster. Though they lack in years, the squad does have a lot of experience. All nine returning players have at least two games of NCAA Tournament experience and the roster as a whole has 24 games of experience in the tournament.
TECH ENTERS SEVENTH SEASON UNDER COACH JO
Coach MaChelle Joseph, who is entering her seventh season at Georgia Tech, has already recorded the second-most wins in Tech history. Joseph has registered a 107-77 (.582) record and is the fastest coach in school history to win 100. She has led Tech to its three straight 20-win seasons and three straight NCAA Tournaments, both first’s for the Yellow Jacket program. Joseph registered her 100th victory on Feb. 1, 2009 against Clemson.
YELLOW JACKETS IN THE RANKINGS
Georgia Tech is receiving votes in the Associated Press Poll this week. Tech was ranked 19th in the preseason Associated Press poll, which the seventh week in the last three years the Jackets have been ranked under head coach MaChelle Joseph. The program has only been ranked for 12 weeks in its entire history. This also marks the first time a Yellow Jacket team has been ranked in a preseason poll.
MORE RANKINGS FOR TECH
Athlon Magazine ranked the Yellow Jackets No. 9 in its preseason poll, by far the highest ranking ever in any poll for the Yellow Jacket program. Sporting News College Basketball Preview magazine had the Yellow Jackets ranked No. 15 in its poll.
WHAT A SCHEDULE!
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph and her staff were not afriad to challenge their team this season as nine teams are ranked or receiving votes in the preseason polls. Keep in mind, this is not factoring in possible opponents in the Preseason WNIT. If you add those teams, the Yellow Jackets could face up to 12 teams ranked or receiving votes prior to the season.
SWEET RESULTS IN SEASON OPENERS
The Yellow Jackets have enjoyed season openers throughout the program’s history. Tech is 26-10 (.722) all-time on opening day and are 19-4 (since 1978-79) when the season opener is played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Under head coach MaChelle Joseph, the Jackets are 7-0 on opening day and are 5-0 at home.
Tech defeated Winthrop, 63-30, to open the 2009-10 season. Mo Bennett scored a career-high 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and registered eight steals.
YELLOW JACKETS INK THREE IN EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Three high school women’s basketball standouts have signed letters of intent to play at Georgia Tech beginning in the 2010-11 season.
Joining head coach MaChelle Joseph and her Yellow Jacket program is a trio of guards — 5-8 Dawnn Maye, 5-11 Tyaunna Marshall and 5-9 Kendra Long. The athletic threesome has formed the No. 26 rated class by All-Star Girls Report.
BLUE NAMED ASSISTANT COACH, MOREN PROMOTED TO ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph announced two moves to her staff prior to the start of the 2009-10 season. She promoted Teri Moren to associate head coach and hired Octavia Blue, formerly of St. John’s University, to the post of assistant coach.
YELLOW JACKETS PICKED TO FINISH SEVENTH IN ACC BY BLUE RIBBON PANEL
The Blue Ribbon Panel, a contingent of national and local media, picked the Yellow Jackets to finish seventh in the ACC. For the second straight season, North Carolina was picked to win the conference. Following North Carolina was Duke with 10 first-place votes, 2008-09 co-regular season champion Florida State, and Virginia. Co-regular season champion and ACC Tournament champion Maryland received three first-place votes and was tabbed fifth. Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Virginia Tech rounded out the selection order.
LOOK MOM, I’M ON TV
With all the recent success, media outlets are beginning to take notice of the Yellow Jackets, who will have 10 games broadcasted on television in 2009-10. Tech will be seen seven times on the ACC’s RSN package, twice on CSS and once on the Big Ten Network.
If you include this season, the Jackets will have appeared on television 102 times since 1999-2000.
