Jan. 9, 2011
CLEMSON, S.C. – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team earned its 11th straight win, setting the single-season school record for most consecutive wins, with a 64-53 victory over the Clemson Lady Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Georgia Tech improves to 14-4 (2-0 ACC) on the season, while Clemson drops to 8-9 (1-1 ACC).
“I was really pleased with our defensive effort today,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I thought we did a tremendous job at the start of the second half of really jumping on Clemson. Metra Walthour made some huge plays, defensively and offensively. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to put them away there in the second half. We had a 20-point lead with three minutes to play. We need to be able to put people away on the road. Overall I’m pleased. A win is a win is a win. They all count the same and to get our first win on the road in the ACC, I’m really pleased with that.”
Junior center Sasha Goodlett led four Yellow Jackets in double digits with 15 points, the eighth time this season the Bolton, Miss., native has finished in double figures. She added a game-high eight rebounds. After missing her first four field goal attempts, senior Alex Montgomery rebounded to finish 4-of-9 from the field, including three three-pointers, and 13 points.
Junior point guard Metra Walthour finished with 10 points and game-highs of five steals and four assists. Freshman Tyaunna Marshall tossed in 10 points, the 13th time in 18 games she has been in double-digit scoring. The Upper Marlboro, Md., native added three assists and four steals.
“There’s no doubt she [Walthour] was the energizer for us,” Joseph added. “Not only on the offensive end; she’s the one that created the steals on the defensive end. That’s what you expect your veteran point guard to do is put you on her back and carry you sometimes, but she’s done it time and time again this year. She’s just huge for our team. Her toughness on both ends has helped us tremendously through this 11-game winning streak.”
Tech began the game struggling from the field, making only seven of its first 21 shots, before finishing the half making six of the next nine.
Keeping the Jackets’ in the game early on was its pressure defense. Despite shooting 58 percent from the field over the first 12-plus minutes, the Lady Tigers committed 10 turnovers which led to 13 Jacket points.
One bright spot in the early struggles was the play of Goodlett and Marshall, as the pair combined to score the Jackets’ first 10 points. Goodlett, who had 11 of Tech’s first 22, registered her 30th career double digit scoring game by the time the game went to intermission.
“That’s why you can’t depend on one player in this league,” Joseph said. “You can’t have one scorer. You’ve got to have multiple scorers and have a complete inside-outside game. One of the things we’ve really challenged Sasha with through the course of the year is to establish herself on the inside. I thought today she was huge for us. That’s probably one of the best games I’ve seen her play this year. I thought she did a great job, not only finishing around the basket, but getting offensive rebounds as well.”
The Yellow Jackets won the rebounding edge for the 16th time in 18 games this year, 37-35. Of those 37, 16 came on the offensive end and led to 18 second-chance points for the Jackets. The play of Goodlett down low helped Tech to outscore the Lady Tigers 34-20 in the paint.
“I thought one of the keys going into the game was we had to score off our defense because we knew they were going to be in a zone,” Joseph said. “That was one of the things we weren’t able to do in the first half that I thought we started to do in the second half. Throughout the course of the season, we’ve really relied on our defense to create a lot of our offense. Today was no different.”
Tech was able to force 21 Clemson turnovers and turned those miscues into 21 points on the offensive end.
The Yellow Jackets will be back in action on Thursday night at Alexander Memorial Coliseum when the Virginia Cavaliers come to Atlanta. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at AMC. Fans can listen live at WREK.org, follow live stats through RamblinWreck.com or instant updates on Twitter @GTWBB. For more information, please visit RamblinWreck.com. Tickets are available by calling 1-888-Tech-Tix or by visiting 1-888-Tech-Tix.com.
–RamblinWreck.com–
