Jan. 29, 2012
Clemson, S.C. – Sophomore Tyaunna Marshall’s 17 points led Georgia Tech (16-6, 6-3 ACC) to a hard-fought 63-54 win over the Clemson Lady Tigers (5-14, 1-7 ACC) Sunday evening at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C.
Senior Sasha Goodlett finished with her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and made 7-of-8 free throw attempts. Classmate Chelsea Regins came off the bench to add 12 points. Fellow seniors Metra Walthour and Mo Bennett added nine points, and six points and eight rebounds, respectively.
“I think every game in the ACC is hard, but in particular the ones on the road,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I felt like coming into this game, that Clemson coming off a loss like they had against Duke at home, was going to be aggressive and they proved me right. I give them credit. I thought they played extremely well on the offensive end and exploited some things we like to defensively. I thought Mo Bennett was huge for us. As a senior, she came in and made a lot of hustle plays and got it back for us.”
Clemson opened the game on an 11-3 run over the first 7:11, but the Yellow Jackets rallied to tie the game at 15-15 with 8:25 to play in the first half.
The Jackets took their first lead of the game on Watlhour’s third 3-pointer of the first half with just 52 seconds to play before intermission. After each team traded turnovers, Clemson’s Nikki Dixon raced down the court for a fastbreak layup to narrowly beat the halftime buzzer and send the Lady Tigers to the lockeroom with a 27-26 lead.
Marshall and the Yellow Jackets struggled in the first half, shooting just 36 percent while the Lady Tigers converted on 50 percent of their attempts. Georgia Tech was able to reverse the floor in the final 20 minutes, shooting 50 percent in the second half and holding Clemson to only 38 percent shooting.
Clemson earned its largest lead of the second half, 36-31, just two-and-a-half minutes into the second period. A Marshall jumper, steal and layup quickly pulled the Jackets back within one, 36-35, barely 30 seconds later. After a series of lead changes, Tech grabbed its biggest lead of the day, seven, when Sasha Goodlett converted a pair of free throws to put the Jackets up 47-40 midway through the second half.
The Lady Tigers would get back within two twice down the stretch, but Tech held Clemson without a point from the 4:22 point of the second half until just 25 seconds remained.
“It definitely wasn’t Sasha’s best performance, but when someone has a C game and has A statistics, that’s a pretty good player,” Joseph said. “To come out with a double-double and not play your best says a lot about Sasha and how her game has evolved. I thought Ty’s 17 points were pretty quiet, but obviously they were both key for us to come out and win this game.”
Georgia Tech returns home to host the NC State Wolfpack on February 2 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in a 7 p.m. contest. The Yellow Jackets will be hosting their annual Women Out Front celebration as well as National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Tech fans can purchase an ACC pack for 2012 Yellow Jacket conference games through RamblinWreck.com where fans can choose any three ACC home games for only $9.
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