University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia hosts Vanderbilt - Game Notes
January 19, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Game Notes
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Jan. 19, 2002
Monday's Games: 1-0 Tuesday Games: 3-0 Wednesday Games:1-0 Thursday Games: 3-1 Friday Games: 0-0 Saturday Games: 1-1 Sunday Games: 4-1
Overtime Games: 2-0 Television Games: 1-1 vs. Ranked Opponents: 3-1
Georgia's Record When... Leading at Halftime: 7-1 Home Games: 4-0 Road Games: 3-1 Neutral Games: 0-0 Trailing at Halftime: 5-2 Home Games: 2-1 Road Games: 2-1 Neutral Games: 1-0 Tied at Halftime: 1-0 Home Games: 0-0 Road Games: 0-0 Neutral Games: 1-0
UGA Shoots 50 percent or better: 3-1 UGA Shoots 40-49 percent: 8-2 UGA Shoots 39 percent or less: 2-0 Opp. Shoots 50 percent or better: 0-0 Opp. Shoots 40-49 percent: 0-3 Opp. Shoots 30-39 percent: 7-0 Opp. Shoots 29 percent or less: 6-0 UGA Outrebounds (or ties) Opp.: 12-2 Opp. Outrebounds Georgia 1-1 UGA Has Fewer (or equal) Turnovers: 7-0 Opp. Has Fewer Turnovers: 6-3
UGA Scores 90 points or more: 1-0 UGA Scores 80-89 points: 2-1 UGA Scores 70-79 points: 6-0 UGA Scores 69-points or less: 4-22.) (5-7, Fr., Gadsden, Ala.)
2freshman have started their collegiate debuts for Landers? Upon further review, yet another freshman who started her collegiate debut guard Barbara Murray in 1980-81 was discovered in a dusty file. Therefore, the trio of Braxton, Law and Pierce actually represented the 44th, 45th and 46th freshmen to start during Landers' 23 seasons at Georgia. Freshmen in the starting lineup is a long-standing tradition at Georgia. In fact, Landers has started at least one freshman during all but three seasons 1994-95, 1995-96, 2000-01 and at times during the 1987-88 and 1993-94 campaigns, UGA started lineups consisting of five freshmen. "We've got a history of starting freshman," Landers said. "It's not necessarily something that you want to do, but sometimes you need to do it or it can, in fact, be the best thing to do. " A total of 17 freshmen have started their collegiate debuts for Landers and the Lady Dogs. Prior to this year's trifecta were: Cynthia Collins in 1979-80, Barbara Murray and Lou Sims in 1980-81, Janet Harris in 1981-82, Tammye Jenkins and Adrienne Shuler in 1987-88, Lady Hardmon in 1988-89, Camille Lowe in 1989-90, Kim K.T Thompson in 1992-93, La'Keshia Frett and Tracy Henderson in 1993-94, and Coco Miller, Kelly Miller and Elena Vishniakova in 1997-98. For the record, current senior Tawana McDonald likely would have been included on that list if she had not suffered a sprained knee five days before the opener of the 1998-99 season. Lady Bulldogs' Make Magical (102.1) Move On Your FM Dial WMGM, better known locally as Magic 102.1 FM, will broadcast every Lady Bulldog game this season. The games aired previously on WNGC FM, Magic 102.1's Southern Broadcasting sister station. "I am excited about the move to Magic 102.1, and I think the station is excited about being the home of Lady Bulldog Basketball," Andy Landers. "The switch will alleviate some scheduling conflicts in the past when WNGC broadcast Georgia football and women's and men's basketball games. The demographics of Magic's listening audience and our fan base are comparable, as well, and the promotions the station has planned in addition to its broadcasts will provide a great deal of exposure for our program." In previous years, the vast majority of the Lady Dog games aired on WNGC. When conflicts occurred, the Lady Bulldogs aired on WGAU 1340 AM. Georgia women's basketball is the only sports on Magic 102.1's programming schedule. Jeff Dantzler and Mack Poss return for their ninth season together as the Lady Dogs' play-by-play announcer and color analyst, respectively.
Lady Bulldogs Tabbed Third In Balloting At SEC Media Days Georgia was predicted to finish third in the SEC during the upcoming 2001-02 season in voting by media attending SEC Basketball Media Days in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 1. A rundown of balloting follows. Rank School (1st votes) Pts. 1. Tennessee (8) 22 2. Vanderbilt (7) 33 3. Georgia 54 4. Florida 62 5. LSU 85 6. Auburn 101 7. Arkansas 107 8. Miss. State 115 9. Alabama 127 10. South Carolina 148 11. Ole Miss 153 12. Kentucky 163
Next? Hotty-Toddy & Oxford The Lady Bulldogs return to action on Thursday when they travel to Ole Miss in a 7:00 p.m. CT affair. The Lady Dogs lead the all-time series with the Lady Rebels, 18-7, however, Georgia is just 5-4 in Oxford. UGA has won eight of the last nine meetings, including a pair last season. Georgia assistant coach Michael Shafer is the son of Ole Miss AD John Shafer.er Landers a astronomical winning percentage of 98.52071. d against Morris Brown, virtually every Lady Dog posted a season- and/or career-high statistical in the win. All told, eight Georgia players posted a total of 22 career highs in either points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals or minutes played. In addition, two more Lady Dogs posted a combined five season highs in the aforementioned categories. Lady Bulldogs' Lineup Shuffle Andy Landers has utilized seven different starting lineups in 16 games to date this season mixing and matching nine players to do so. The Lady Bulldogs opened the campaign with Camille Murphy and Whitney Law at guard, Jessica Pierce and Kara Braxton at forward and Tawana McDonald at center. That lineup lasted two games until Law suffered a sprained ankle to move Mary Beth Lycett into the lineup, and Christi Thomas replaced Braxton. The Lady Dogs' third quintet was formed at Georgia Southern when Law returned to the starting five and Ebony Felder drew the nod for the first time over Pierce. McDonald, who suffered a minor hyperextension of her knee in practice after the Georgia Southern game and missed more than a week of practice, did not dress for the NC State game to move Braxton back into the starting five. T-Mac's DNP at NC State snapped a streak of 50 consecutive starts dating back to her sophomore year. After a career-high 17 points against VCU, Lycett returned to the starting five against LSU to form a fifth quintet. McDonald then returned to the lineup at Michigan State to form yet another Lady Bulldog combo. Last Monday against Morris Brown, freshman Nikki Eason started at point guard to create the seventh different lineup. Eason became 48th freshman and fifth this season to start for Andy Landers during his 23 seasons at UGA.
Fourth-Best Start Ever Is Ended Georgia's loss at Michigan State ended the Lady Bulldogs' fourth-best start ever. UGA began the 2001-02 campaign with an 11-0 record. Georgia opened its 1998-99 Final Four campaign with a 14-0 record. The Lady Bulldogs were 13-0 to begin the 1989-90 campaign and 12-0 in 1994-95.
Perfect Mark For A New Year Though the Lady Bulldogs possess a stellar competitive resume UGA is one of five schools to advance to five Final Fours and has been invited to 18 of 20 NCAA Tournaments...the Lady Dogs have won seven SEC Championships and four SEC Tourney titles Georgia has reached the new calendar year of a season with an unblemished record on only four occasions. With an 83-70 home win over Virginia Commonwealth on Dec. 30, Georgia reached the 2002 calendar with a perfect 10-0 mark. Previously, the Lady Dogs were 11-0 en route to a best-ever 14-0 opening to the 1998-99 campaign. Georgia also was 9-0 in both 1994-95 and 1989-90. In two of those seasons, 1995 and 1999, UGA went on to reach the Final Four, and in the third, 1990, UGA finished 25-5 overall.
Back In Familiar Territory Georgia moved to No. 10 in the Dec. 10 edition Associated Press top-25 poll, a locale the Lady Bulldogs have occupied with great regularity over the last seven-plus seasons. Dating back to the start of the 1995-96 season when UGA eventually finished as NCAA runner-up the Lady Dogs have now been ranked among the top-10 of the AP poll during 87 of the last 116 weekly polls an amazing 75.0 percent. That percentage would be even more impressive had UGA not spent only one of 18 weeks in the top-10 in 1997-98. Not coincidentally, the Lady Dogs have made a major climb in the all-time poll during the same time frame. The historical ledger is compiled by combining finishes in the year-end poll (i.e. the No. 1 team in the final poll receives 25 points in the all-time poll). Georgia has risen from No 12 to No. 5 in the all-time rankings since 1995.
Learning The Concept Of Big "TEAM", Little "me" "16 people, other people have had to play with them. Getting them to work together and see the bigger picture takes some time, but that's nothing that's abnormal for most freshmen. It's just exaggerated this year because we have so many of them." A silver lining emerged from the cloud which sometimes seems to hover over the young Lady Dogs during the early season. Georgia played extremely well and kept its composure in eight tight games. The Lady Bulldogs have trailed during the second half or OT of seven games Middle Tennessee, Georgia State, UNLV, Cal, Georgia Tech, VCU and Auburn. Georgia overcame double-figure deficits to defeat Georgia State, Cal and Virginia Commonwealth. In both overtime victories (Middle Tennessee and NC State) Georgia blew double-digit second-half leads before regrouping in the extra session. Down the stretch of each outing, Georgia looked like anything but a squad comprised 53.8 percent of freshmen. This team seems to be more comfortable during the last four-five minutes of a tight game, Landers said after the UNLV win. Their youth may have something to do with that. I think some of our players are thinking a bit too much. In the last few minutes, when the game has been on the line, we did a good job of just playing... making plays when it counted most.
Much Ado About Blocking The amazing shot blocking-prowess of the Lady Bulldogs is highlighted on Page 3 these Games Notes, however, here are some other interesting statistical tidbits. Georgia has blocked 130 of its opponents' 1009 field goal attempts this season one of every 7.8 shots. Subtract out the opponents' 335 made field goals, and UGA has blocked 130 of 674 shots which did not find the bottom of the basket 19.3 percent. While somewhat impressed by the Lady Bulldogs' blocked shot tally, Andy Landers offered a sobering response. "Yeah, we've blocked a lot shots, but we've probably fouled people on more than that," Landers quipped. Still, in this week's NCAA statistics report, the Lady Bulldogs were prominent individually. Three Lady Bulldogs were ranked among the nation's top-25 shot blockers Kara Braxton at No. 16, Christi Thomas tied at No. 22 and Tawana McDonald tied at No. 24. The NCAA does not keep blocked shots as a team statistic.
Maintaining Superiority In Ga. Georgia's win over Morris Brown extended the Lady Dogs' winning streak versus Peach State schools to 53 games. Such dominance wasn't always a given. "I remember very clearly when I got here there were three objectives in my mind, three goals, and all three of them had the same degree of difficulty" Andy Landers said. The first one sounds like it would have been easy, but it was as tough as any of them. We had to get respect in our state. We were at the bottom of the heap behind Mercer, Valdosta State, Georgia Southern and Georgia State. We were able to do that in a relatively short period. "The second one was to be a top-10 team, Landers continued. The third was to be a top-5 program on an annual basis." The numbers to back up Landers' claim of goal No. 1 being equally difficult as goals No. 2 and No. 3 are clearly evident. During Georgia's first six years of intercollegiate women's basketball, the Lady Dogs were a woeful 37-85 (.303). UGA was only 3-30 against the four in-state schools Landers mentioned previously. While Georgia's fortunes changed dramatically upon Landers' arrival, it took a couple of seasons for the Lady Dogs to truly dominate in state. In 1979-80, UGA was just 2-7 against Mercer, Valdosta State, Georgia Southern and Georgia State. In 1980-81 and 1981-82, the Lady Dogs improved to 8-4 versus those foes before beginning their current streak. Georgia's last setback to an in-state opponent was a 79-77 overtime loss to Georgia State way back on Jan. 6, 1981.
Boarding With The Best Of Them Georgia hauled in 66 rebounds at Georgia Southern on Dec. 5, which equaled the fifth-best tally in Lady Bulldog history. And for the first time in nearly five seasons, three different Lady Bulldogs garnered double-digit rebound marks in a single game as Kara Braxton and Christi Thomas collected 11 rebounds apiece and Tawana McDonald added 10. The last time three Georgia players reached double figures for rebounds in a game was on Jan. 18, 1997, when Tracy Henderson had 13 rebounds and La'Keshia Frett and Tiffany Walker grabbed 10 apiece in a 78-56 victory over Ole Miss in Athens.
Landers Wins 550th At UGA The Lady Dogs gave Andy Landers an early Christmas present on Dec. 2 his 550th victory at Georgia. The milestone was reached with a win over Cal in the championship game of the Bears' own Oakland Tribune Classic. During a 32-4 1999-2000 campaign, Landers collected his 500th win at UGA in what was the fourth-fastest pace in women's hoops history (649 games). A four-time National Coach of the Year, Landers has averaged 24.8 wins in 23 years at UGA, second-best among all Division I women's coaches with as much tenure. Landers next milestone is overall win No. 650, which he's 10 Ws shy of entering today's game.
T-Mac Named MVP In Berkeley Tawana McDonald was named the Most Valuable Player of the Oakland Tribune Classic on Dec. 2. T-Mac posted season-highs of 19 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks in the championship game against Cal that afternoon. McDonald sparked a more than stagnant Georgia lineup, which fell behind 12-0 and did not score until the 11:28 mark of the first half. Kara Braxton joined T-Mac on the all-tourney team. The freshman from Jackson, Mich., scored 19 points and grabbed nine boards against UNLV in the first round. McDonald's MVP trophy was the second of her career. As a sophomore, T-Mac was named MVP of the Pre-season WNIT after averaging 12.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks and shooting 62.5 percent from the field in four WNIT games (including wins over three top-25 teams).
Taylor's Career Day Highlights Bench Play Against UNLV Tina Taylor came up huge for Georgia in a 77-62 win over UNLV on Dec. 1 at the Oakland Tribune Classic in Berkeley. Her performance headlined what was a stellar afternoon by the Lady Bulldog bench. Taylor played the entire 20 minutes of the second half, a mark which alone bettered her previous career high for minutes played of 14 in the season-opener against Maine. st Maine. ould have each other well scouted. Today's meeting is the sixth in the last three seasons. In addition to the SEC Tourney matchup, Georgia and Vanderbilt were SEC-designated home-and-home foes in 1990-2000 and 2000-01. The Lady Dogs won four of the five meetings. A year ago in Athens, Tameiko Washington came off the bench to provide Georgia with a huge spark in a 76-59 win. Washington scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor. Tawana McDonald and Kelly Miller scored 15 apiece to lead the Lady Dogs, while Christi Thomas chipped in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. More Tube Time For UGA Today's game is the third of seven Lady Bulldog regular-season games slated to be televised. Other televised games can be found in Georgia's schedule on Page 2 of these Notes. A Dec. 27 win over Georgia Tech back on FOX SportsNet South not only improved the Lady Bulldogs to 24-0 all-time against their arch-rivals, it also represented Georgia's 75th all-time televised victory. The Lady Bulldogs have played some of their best basketball with the glare of television lights on them. Georgia is currently 75-33 (.694) all-time in televised games dating back to the 1982-83 season. The Lady Bulldogs are an even more impressive 57-17 (.770) mark since the beginning of their 1995 Final Four campaign. Williams' Ties To UGA & VU Carla Williams, Vanderbilt's Assistant AD for Olympic Sports, is someone very familiar with Lady Bulldog Basketball. As the former Carla Green, Williams was a standout guard for Andy Landers from 1985-89. She also served as an assistant coach on the Lady Bulldog staff for five very successful seasons. A native of Newnan, Ga., Williams was a three-year starter for the Lady Dogs at point guard and was named second-team All-SEC as a senior. She completed her career with 1,115 points, a tally which currently ranks No. 18 among Georgia's career scoring leaders but could very well be surpassed by Tawana McDonald today. Williams also ranks No. 6 in both career assists (425) and steals (238). Williams was a member of Landers' staff from 1991-96 before moving into administration following the birth of her first child, daughter Carmen, in Oct. 1995.
Tracking T-Mac & Camille Seniors Tawana McDonald and Camille Murphy have ascended among Georgia's career statistical leaders this season and their progress is likely to continue during the rest of the campaign. In the season opener, T-Mac supplanted Lisa O'Connor in the No. 8 spot among Georgia's career rebounding leaders. During a Dec. 1 victory over UNLV, McDonald moved past Saudia Roundtree into the No. 20 spot among the Lady Dogs' career scoring leaders. The following day, while playing her 100th game in a Georgia uniform, T-Mac swatted six shots versus Cal to pass Tracy Henderson and inch into the No. 2 slot on the career blocked shots ledger. Murphy's three-pointer during the second half of Thursday's win at Auburn moved her into the No. 8 spot among the Lady Dogs' career leaders in made trifectas at 68. McDonald's progress is certain to soon continue as outlined below. In fact, she could jump three positions on the career scoring ledger during the afternoon's game with Vanderbilt. McDonald, with 1,110 points, is only one point away from Pam Irwin-Osbolt and the No. 19 career scoring spot, five shy of No. 18 Carla Green and eight away from No. 17 Cynthia Collins. McDonald, with 280 blocks, is only 10 swats away from breaking Katrina McClain's Lady Bulldog career record of 290. McDonald, with 809 rebounds, is 14 boards off of the current No. 7 tally of Tracy Henderson. Lady Dogs, 'Dores Lead League In Putting Ball In Hoop Versus SEC Georgia and Vanderbilt are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in field goal percentage against SEC opposition. The Lady Bulldogs have connected on 113-of-233 shots from the floor in four SEC dates, while Vanderbilt has hit 92-of-189 attempts in four league games. While both teams are listed at .487 in the SEC's statistics, Georgia holds a slight edge if you want to utilize the exact number. The Lady Dogs percentage equates to .4570689. The Commodores' clip is actually .4567724.
Facing Ranked Foes Nothing New The Lady Dogs enter today's game with No. 7 Vanderbilt sporting a 122-93 (.567) record versus teams ranked in the AP poll at game time. UGA has five more games against teams in this week's poll, all versus SEC competition.
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