University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia vs Auburn
February 17, 2007 | Women's Basketball
The basics
Georgia enters the final week of SEC of the regular season by traveling to The Plains to face Auburn this afternoon at Beard-Eaves Coliseum.
The Lady Bulldogs, 22-5 overall and 9-3 in league play, are ranked No. 11 by AP and are No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll this week. Georgia has won seven of its last eight games, including an 82-72 overtime thriller against Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Thursday. For the third consecutive year, junior Tasha Humphrey leads the Lady Dogs in both scoring (16.5) and rebounding (8.0).
Auburn enters today’s matchup with a 17-10 overall record and a 4-7 mark in league play. The Tigers have dropped three straight to Tennessee, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Auburn sports a solid rpi of No. 40 according to collegerpi.com; however, the Tigers are in search of a signature win that would both improve their SEC Tournament seeding and bolster their NCAA resume.
Date: February 18, 2007, 3:00 p.m. CT
Location: Beard-Eaves Coliseum; Auburn, Ala.
Radio: Magic 102.1 FM; TV: FSN South TV
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Lady Dogs lead series
Largely due to winning 12 of the last 14 meetings, Georgia sports an 20-12 advantage in its all-time series with Auburn. However, the two teams have split their 12 meetings at Auburn.
Last season in Athens, Tasha Humphrey posted a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds and Sherill Baker chipped in 21 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 74-61 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams.
A complete box score from that game – as well as game-by-game results from the series – can be found on Page 3 of these Game Notes.
Due to a scheduling quirk in the SEC rotation, Georgia and Auburn have played in Athens during each of the past two seasons. In their most recent trip to Auburn on Jan. 15, 2004, the Lady Dogs dropped a 72-54. Le’Coe Willingham poured in 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the No. 20 Tigers to an upset over No. 11 Georgia. Jessica Pierce was the only Georgia play in double figures with 15 points off the bench.
Quoting Andy Landers...
On the challenges of facing Auburn...
“Going to Auburn...going anywhere on the road in the Southeastern Conference...becomes a challenge. I think that Auburn has some excellent personnel. They’re very athletic. They can score. They can handle. They can defend. They have terrific height and a mismatch like no other in the league at the wing in Bonner. Inside, really, they have a giant of sorts.”
On his team’s progression and improvement...
“I think we’re finally getting where we envisioned ourselves being in terms of developing. We’re becoming more aggressive on the defensive end and a little bit better on the offensive end. We’re rebounding the ball better. Overall, our team continues to improve and, during the last week, particularly we’ve played well.”
The Matchups (see attached pdf)
Keeping an eye on...
Entering the Auburn game:
Cori Chambers is...
• 2 3-point FGs from her own UGA season record set in 2005-06
• 2 games played from co-No. 7s Coco Miller and Rhonda Malone among UGA’s career leaders
• 47 points from No. 15 Tina Price among UGA’s career leaders
• 26 FGAs from No. 10 Kedra Holland-Corn among UGA’s career leaders
Janese Hardrick is...
• 30 points from No. 21 Sherelle Warren among UGA’s career leaders
• 1 3-point FGs from No. 6 Alexis Kendrick among UGA’s career leaders
• 12 FTs from No. 10 Lisa O’Connor among UGA’s career leaders
Tasha Humphrey is...
• 51 points from No. 9 Sherill Baker among UGA’s career leaders
• 10 FTs from No. 4 Tammye Jenkins among UGA’s career leaders
• 31 FTAs from No. 7 Cynthia Collins among UGA’s career leaders
• 19 FGs from No. 10 Tammye Jenkins among UGA’s career leaders
Ashley Houts is...
• 6 steals from No. 4 Janet Harris among UGA’s freshman records
• 11 assists from No. 5 Lou Sims among UGA’s freshman records
Let’s talk SEC Tournament seeding
Following Tennessee, there’s a pretty muddled pack of four teams fighting for the three remaining first-round byes at the SEC Tournament in Duluth in two weeks.
From a Georgia standpoint, this much is certain. With a win in one of their last two games, the Lady Bulldogs will lock up a bye from Thursday’s first-round action. In fact, with one more win Georgia would be at worst the No. 3 seed unless Vanderbilt wins out including matchups with both No. 7 LSU and No. 3 Tennessee.
The record watch kiss of death
Cori Chambers enters today’s game two three-pointers shy of equaling her own UGA single-season record for three-point field goals as outlined below.
Considering that Chambers has made multiple shots from behind the arc in 72 of her 128 games played as a Lady Bulldog, we think that means there’s better than a 50 percent chance she’ll tie the mark against the Tigers.
(see attached pdf)
Building namesake also a Bulldog
The “Eaves” in “Beard-Eaves Coliseum” is for Joel Eaves, who was an ultra successful men’s basketball coach at Auburn before becoming Georgia’s longtime AD.
Eaves was named Georgia’s AD in the fall of 1963 and months later made his first major coaching hire by naming a relatively unknown 32-year-old named Vince Dooley as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Dooley went on to lead Georgia to the 1980 national title and six SEC Championships and succeeded Eaves as Georgia’s AD in 1979. Dooley then used the same formula in making his first coaching hire, selecting an unknown 26-year-old Andy Landers to become the Lady Dogs’ first – and still only – full-time head coach in 1979.
Hill was once a Tiger
Georgia assistant coach Brenda Hill played at Auburn from 1982-85 and remains listed in the Tigers’ career leaders in several places.
Hill scored 1,222 points in three seasons on The Plains, which still ranks No. 15 on the Tigers’ all-time scoring list. She also remains No. 4 in free throw percentage (.768), No. 5 in blocked shots (126) and No. 8 in scoring average (13.3ppg).
Humphrey climbs into top-10s
During the first half of the Kentucky game, Tasha Humphrey ascended into the Lady Bulldogs’ top-10 career leaders in both points and rebounds, which makes this a seemingly opportune time to measure Humphrey’s statistical production versus other Georgia greats.
Below are the Lady Bulldogs’ top-five leaders in each category. Humphrey’s projected career totals are based on the modest estimate of Georgia playing 32 games during both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
(see attached pdf)
Rowsey out of action
Rebecca Rowsey did not travel to the Alabama game due to an illness that has now been diagnosed as mononucleosis. She will be out of action indefinitely.
A 6-3, junior, Rowsey started 17 of the first 24 games, averaging 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. She has improved her career high for scoring by posting 15 points at Savannah State and equaled her career-best mark by grabbing 12 boards against No. 11 Stanford.
Humphrey extremely hot of late
Tasha Humphrey has played her best basketball of the season during the Lady Dogs’ last seven games.
Humphrey has posted five double-doubles during that stretch while averaging 20.7 points and 10.6 rebounds. Humphrey reached double figures in scoring in both of the non double-double outings in that span and recorded eight and nine rebounds in those contests.
Georgia secures 20-win season at quick pace
The Lady Bulldogs recorded their 20th win of the season with a 92-41 thumping of Alabama on Feb. 8, a significant milestone for most programs but relative commonplace for the Lady Bulldogs.
In Andy Landers’ 28 seasons in Athens, Georgia has now posted 23 20-win campaigns. In fact, the Lady Bulldogs have gone on to garner 25 or more victories in 15 of those seasons.
That’s a long way from the humble beginnings of Lady Bulldog Basketball. In Georgia’s first six seasons of intercollegiate competition, the Lady Dogs compiled a cumulative record of 37-85 – an average of a measly 6.2 wins per season. Under Landers, Georgia has won 24.3 wins a year, which ranks him fourth all-time among Division I women’s hoops head coaches with 20 seasons of experience.
The current edition of Lady Bulldogs progressed to win No. 20 at the quickest pace since Georgia’s 2001 SEC Tournament Championship season. Those Lady Dogs attained victory No. 20 also on Feb. 8 but in their 23rd game of the season. Georgia won 19 games the following year but has reached No. 20 in: 29 games in 2002-03, 28 games in 2003-04, 26 games in 2004-05 and 27 games a year ago.
Rewriting UGA’s scoring ledger
Tasha Humphrey, Cori Chambers and Janese Hardrick and have been inching their way up Georgia’s all-time scoring leaders list this season as outlined below.
Humphrey began the campaign at No. 17 with 1,252 points. She ascended into the top-15 during in Georgia’s first date with Florida on Jan. 4 and then passed Tammye Jenkins to climb into the top-10 at Kentucky on Feb. 15.
Chambers opened the year at No. 26 with 1,058 points. She reached the top-20 during the Middle Tennessee game on Dec. 7. Most recently, she passed both Camille Lowe and Lady Hardmon during Georgia’s victory on Feb. 8 at Alabama.
Hardrick became the Lady Dogs’ 28th 1,000-point scorer at Georgia Tech on Dec. 3 and climbed into the No. 25 position on Jan. 25 versus Ole Miss. Most recently, she passed former teammate Alexis Kendrick during OT at Kentucky on Feb. 15.
(see attached pdf)
Not quite a permanent magic marker
The Lady Bulldogs are 9-0 this season when scoring 80 or more points, upping Georgia’s astronomical winning percentage under Andy Landers when they put up that many points to 408-7. That equates to a success rate of .98313253 over the past 27-plus seasons.
Georgia last loss when scoring 80 in a 94-85 setback at Tennessee on Jan. 12, 2006.
Somewhat interestingly – at least we hope you think it’s interesting since it took quite a while to dig the information up – is the fact that the Lady Dogs are just 27-8 (.771) when they score exactly 79 points, with half of those loses being by three points or less.
Freshmen lead the way in wins over LSU, Alabama
Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall and Angel Robinson played key roles in Georgia’s victories over No. 7 LSU and Alabama.
Against the Lady Tigers, Houts hit the game-winning jumper with no time left on the clock. Also tremendously important, she played all 40 minutes and committed no turnovers. Robinson scored 12 second-half points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. She made the first three-pointer of her career from the right corner with 10:11 left in the game and then scored the final six points of a 12-0 run which turned a five-point deficit into a seven-point lead with 2:55 remaining.
At Alabama, Marshall made the most of her third start of the season by pouring in a career-best 17 points. Robinson equaled her career-high with 18 points (the third time this season) and improved her previous best for rebounds with 10– the first double-double of her career.
Chambers among SEC’s top three-point threats
Cori Chambers joined the SEC’s career top-10 leaders in three-pointers at LSU on Jan. 7. She has since climbed to the No. 3 position with a trio of threes at Kentucky on Feb. 8 as outlined below.
(see attached pdf)
The easiest of moves to make
All Cori Chambers had to do to move up among the Lady Bulldogs’ career leaders for games played is see a single second of action against Kentucky.
Chambers played in her 125th game in a Georgia uniform at Tennessee on Feb. 5, tying her with Kedra Holland-Corn and Katrina McClain for the No. 10 position among the Lady Bulldogs’ leaders for “GPs”, and she then moved to sole possession of that spot at Alabama as outlined below.
Chambers would probably be more interested in moving to No. 1 on that list. She is on track to have played in 130 games entering the post-season.
Janese Hardrick also should join the top-10 for game action. She has played in 126 games at Georgia entering today, missing two outings during her sophomore year due to a sprained ankle.
(see attached pdf)
Turnovers have been critical
In its 22 victories this season, Georgia has averaged 13.8 turnovers per game. In their five losses, the Lady Bulldogs have averaged 20.6 TOs per game.
So, you’re saying those positive numbers have been padded against lesser teams. Well, in what most would consider Georgia’s best wins – Rutgers, Stanford, TCU, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and LSU – the Lady Bulldogs have posted 13.7 turnovers per game.
Also telling is Georgia’s assist-to-turnover ratio. The Lady Bulldogs sport a solid 1.09 mark en route to victory but just 0.47 in their defeats. In those aforementioned “best wins,” Georgia has produced a 0.87 effort.
Probable. Schmabable. Lineup shuffle settles down?
There’s an inexact science in determining who is listed as the “probable starters” for both teams on Page 1 of these Game Notes.
Look at the box scores from each squad’s previous game and insert the same five starters as “probable” for the next outing. For the Lady Bulldogs, that method has proved to be an inexact science for much of the season.
After utilizing the same starting lineup for the first eight games of the season, Andy Landers mixed and matched eight Lady Bulldogs to provide different combinations at the opening tip in eight of its next 11 outings.
Cori Chambers is the lone constant in the Lady Bulldogs’ starting five during every game this season.
Things have settled down somewhat since SEC play began, however. Chambers, Ashley Houts and Tasha Humphrey have started every league date and Georgia has used just three starting fives in league action, including freshman Christy Marshall getting the nod at Alabama.
Chambers breaks out of shooting slump, notches milestones
Cori Chambers busted out of a seven-game shooting slump to score a game-high 19 points and hit five three-pointers in Georgia’s win at Alabama on Feb. 8.
In Georgia’s seven outings prior to the trip to Tuscaloosa, Chambers had connected on just 16-of-60 field goals and 5-of-37 from three-point range. She scored 13 first-half points and continued her hot hand in the second stanza against Alabama.
During the victory over the Tide, Chambers achieved three significant milestones:
1. moving to No. 10 in career games played at Georgia with 126 contests;
2. climbing from No. 18 to No. 16 among the Lady Dogs’ career scoring leaders with 1,399 points; and
3. ascending from No. 9 to No. 6 on the SEC’s all-time ledger for career three-point field goals with 269.
SEC FreshmEn of the Week
Angel Robinson was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 5 after scoring 12 second-half points in Georgia’s win over No. 7 LSU four days earlier.
Georgia’s three first-year standouts have now secured the honor six times this season. Robinson also was tabbed on Dec. 18, while Ashley Houts was selected on Nov. 13, Dec. 4 and Jan. 22, and Christy Marshall was chosen on Nov. 20.
Historically speaking:
• Houts, Marshall and Robinson became the first-ever trio of teammates to be recognized as SEC Freshman of the Week during a season.
• Houts and Marshall also became the first teammates to receive the accolade in consecutive weeks since the league began the recognition last year.
• Houts is only the third three-time honoree in the two seasons the league has named a Freshman of the Week. A year ago, Tennessee’s Candace Parker was chosen five times, and Florida’s Sha Brooks was selected three times.
En route to her Jan. 22 honor, Houts averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals and played all 40 minutes of each of the Lady Bulldogs’ victories over both Vanderbilt and Florida State.
Houts poured in a career-high 21 points against Vanderbilt. She was 10-of-13 from the line versus the Commodores, including 8-of-10 in the final 4:10 of the game. Houts also made a key steal with 28 seconds remaining in the Florida State game and then converted at the line to make it a two-possession game.
Robinson averaged 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds and hit 66.7 percent of her field goals against Savannah State and TCU to secure her honor. Against the Lady Frogs, Robinson equaled her career highs with 18 points, eight boards and two assists and swatted a career-best two shots.
Houts equaled the Lady Bulldogs’ single-game record for steals with 10 thefts against Memphis and then scored 11 points and posted game-high tallies of five assists and two steals against Georgia Tech en route to her Dec. 4 recognition.
Marshall averaged 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals in Georgia’s wins over North Carolina A&T and Davidson prior to her Nov. 20 accolade.
Houts was initially picked on Nov. 13, less than 24 hours after she led Georgia to victory over No. 11 Rutgers in the Lady Dogs’ nationally televised season opener at the State Farm Tip-off Classic. Houts posted game-high tallies of 18 points, seven assists and five steals on ESPN2.
Humphrey wins two straight SEC Player of the Week honors
Tasha Humphrey was selected as SEC Player of the Week by the league office in Birmingham on Jan. 29, the second consecutive week she earned the accolade.
Humphrey averaged 25.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in leading Georgia to a 69-60 win over No. 22 Ole Miss on Jan. 25 and a 77-54 victory at Florida on Jan. 28.
Humphrey posted season-high marks of 32 points and 14 rebounds against the Rebels. She scored 16 second-half points at Gainesville and in the process ascended into the No. 13 position among Georgia’s career scoring leaders.
Humphrey earned the Jan. 22 recognition after helping the Lady Bulldogs top Vanderbilt and Florida State.
Humphrey averaged 21.5 points and connected on 51.7 percent of her field goals – including 57.1 percent from three-point range – against the Commodores and the Seminoles. She scored 25 versus Florida State, including nine in a 13-0 run which turned a 10-point deficit with 4:57 remaining into a three-point lead at the 2:02 mark.
Humphrey has now been named SEC Player of the Week seven times in her career. She has been honored more than any other Lady Bulldog ever and is one of only six players to be win the honor on seven occasions. Ole Miss’ Armintie Price secured her league-record ninth certificate on Feb. 5, moving from a tie with LSU’s Seimone Augustus and Vanderbilt’s Wendy Scholtens. Mississippi State’s LaToya Thomas and Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw were tabbed seven times.
Chambers tops UGA marks
Cori Chambers knocked down her first three-point attempt at the 17:54 mark of the first half at Mississippi State to break the Lady Bulldogs’ career record for successful shots from behind the arc.
Chambers entered the season 56 threes shy of Kedra Holland-Corn’s record. Considering that she connected on a school-record 78 last season, there was a solid chance Chambers would break the mark; however, no one expected her to get there early in UGA’s SEC slate.
Chambers reached the milestone more efficiently than Holland-Corn. Kedra took 675 attempts, while fired up only 645 to reach the same mark. Chambers broke the Georgia record for three-point attempts during the Lady Dogs’ Jan. 28 win at Florida.
Freshman starters list grows
Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall and Angel Robinson have become 58th, 59th and 60th freshmen to start for Andy Landers during his 28 seasons as the head coach at Georgia.
Houts also became the 21st Lady Bulldog freshman to start their collegiate debut under Landers.
Marshall joined the sorority when she got the nod against TCU on Dec. 18 and Robinson followed in Georgia’s next game at George Mason on Dec. 20.
A complete list of the freshman to get the nod can be found below, with the players who have started their debut in bold-faced type.
UGA’s Freshman Starters - (see attached pdf)
Landers fourth with 750 Ws
Andy Landers became only the fourth major college women’s basketball coach to secure 750 career victories with the Lady Bulldogs’ win over Richmond on Dec. 21.
Landers joined Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Texas’ Jody Conradt and Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer as the only coaches to reach the plateau.
Landers compiled an 82-21 record in four seasons at Roane State College in Harriman, Tenn., before coming to Athens in 1979. Landers had a 668-209 record in his 28 seasons with the Lady Bulldogs when he hit 750.
FYI, the NCAA does not recognize Landers’ wins at Roane because they were not at a four-year institution.
Ironically, victory No. 750 came against Richmond’s Michael Shafer, who helped Landers secure more than a third of his career wins during an 11-season span from 1994-05 on the Lady Bulldogs’ staff. During Shafer’s tenure, Georgia compiled a 273-84 record, finished as 1996 NCAA runner-up, also reached the 1995 and 1999 Final Fours, captured the 1996, 1997 and 2000 SEC Championships and won the 2001 SEC Tournament.
Chambers to 20 more often
Cori Chambers had just six 20-point games during her first 102 outings at Georgia. She then did so in eight of the Lady Bulldogs’ next 16 outings.
Chambers popped for 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time at UGA with 22 against North Carolina A&T and 25 versus Davidson. She also poured in 21 against No. 11 Stanford, 23 versus Middle Tennessee, 20 against both Richmond and Brown, 23 versus Florida and 28 at Mississippi State.
In fact, Chambers single-handedly outscored Richmond, 17-12, in the first half of that Dec. 21 contest.
Maria returns from volleyball
Maria Taylor received an “excused absence” from the Lady Bulldogs’ games at Savannah State and versus TCU while she was in Omaha, Neb., competing for a spot on the U.S. National Team for volleyball.
Taylor was among 23 collegians taking part in the tryouts held in conjunction with the semifinals and championship of the NCAA Tournament. Taylor has experience at the national level as a member of the USA Select Team last summer.
Landers now Peach State’s winningest college hoops coach
With the Lady Bulldogs’ 79-69 victory over Georgia Tech on Dec. 3, Andy Landers passed Roger Kaiser as the state of Georgia’s winningest college basketball head coach.
Kaiser amassed a combined 663-233 record and won four NAIA national titles in 29 seasons at West Georgia College and Life University.
“He has four big W’s that I don’t have,” Landers said. “He’s the king. I’m just a friend of his.”
Kaiser was a two-time All-American guard at Georgia Tech (1960-61) and is one of only six Yellow Jacket basketball players to have his jersey retired. He went on to average 22.9 points while playing for Washington, New York and Philadelphia in the ABA from 1961-63 before beginning his coaching career.
Kaiser compiled a 381-186 record at West Georgia between 1970-90, including winning the 1974 NAIA national title. He completed his collegiate coaching career at Life University in metro Atlanta from 1990-2000. He started the program there from scratch and was 282-47 and won NAIA national titles in 1997, 1998 and
2000.
In a Lady Bulldog side note, Kaiser was also AD at Life and hired former Georgia player and then-assistant Sharon Baldwin to start the women’s basketball program at Life. Baldwin, now Sharon Baldwin-Tener, moved from there to be the head coach at Mercer and is now the head coach at East Carolina.
Lady Dogs’ depth receives a boost
After playing the first five games of the season with only seven players, Maria Taylor and Tasha Humphrey saw their first action of the year on Nov. 29 against Memphis.
Taylor joined the squad for practice on Nov. 25 – about 12 hours after Georgia’s volleyball team completed its season – and scored five points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots in her first appearance with the Lady Dogs.
Taylor was an all-state performer in both sports at Centennial High School. She led the Volley Dogs in games played (107) and kills (484). In fact, her kills per game average of 4.52 ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 36 nationally.
Taylor had hoped to join the Lady Dogs last season when injuries depleted Georgia’s post depth but could not due to an SEC rule which prevented student-athletes who sign a scholarship in a sport other than football or basketball from playing football or basketball before their junior year.
That rule was amended at the 2006 SEC Spring Meetings, paving the way for Taylor to play basketball as well. For the record, Taylor has been placed on a basketball scholarship, a stipulation of the NCAA regarding student-athletes participating in multiple sports.
Humphrey also checked in for the first time during 2006-07 versus the Lady Tigers. She had been suspended for the first six games of the season for violation of team rules; however, Andy Landers chose to reduce that punishment by a half game.
Said Andy Landers: “She made a mistake, which is not good, but the way she handled the consequences was very good.”
Humphrey reported to the scorers table with about 17:30 left and played the remainder of the contest. She scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds during that span.
Lady Bulldogs join the 700 Club
Georgia became the 15th NCAA Division I school to post 700 victories in women’s basketball with its Nov. 29 win over Memphis.
The Lady Bulldogs have been passing other institutions on the NCAA’s all-time wins list on a relatively impressive clip. UGA was the 22nd institution to post its 500th victory, a 97-63 thumping of Manhattan on Dec. 1, 1998. Georgia was then the 17th school to reach 600 victories with a 73-62 decision over Alabama on Feb. 21, 2002.
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Landers gets WBB Hall nod
In a move overdue in the minds of most supporters of Lady Bulldog Basketball, it was announced at the State Farm Tip-off Classic that Andy Landers has been elected to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2007 was officially introduced at halftime of the Lady Dogs’ thrilling victory over No. 11 Rutgers on Nov. 12. Landers delayed his trek to the Lady Bulldogs’ locker room to be recognized and received a rousing cheer from the Oklahoma fans.
“I’m certainly excited and pleased for a lot of reasons,” Landers said. “It really hasn’t hit me and sunk in yet, and I really don’t think it will until the ceremony in Knoxville early next year. I understand what it means. It means that I’ve been fortunate to be at a place where you can succeed at the highest level. I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of people – coaches, staff and players – who could make that happen. That’s where it comes from. I’m not of the impression that it’s anything that any one person did.”
Landers began his head coaching career at Roane State Community College in Harriman, Tenn., where he led Roane to an 82-21 record and a pair of top-10 national junior college finishes in four seasons.
Landers was only 26 years old when he was hired as the first – and still only – full-time women’s basketball head coach at UGA. The Lady Bulldogs have had 27 consecutive winning seasons, including 22 20-win campaigns.
“Coach Landers has proven himself to be one of the most successful coaches of all time,” Teresa Edwards said. “The game of women’s basketball would not be the same without him. I don’t think the game would have the same zeal or lust or competitiveness it has without Coach Landers. He brings such intensity to the game. The qualities and characteristics he instills in his players go far and beyond any other coach I’ve ever had. I’m so happy for him. I’ve always thought I’d be happiest for him when he won a national championship, but I think this may be even better. This speaks to his overall success instead of that of one team. It’s not like he’s dead and gone, which is what this sounds like I’m talking about. He’s got a lot of fire left in him, and I hope he’ll continue coaching for many more years so he can have the same influence on other players that he’s had on me.”
Georgia inks four early
Andy Landers signed four prospects – Brittany Carter, Jasmine Lee, Angela Puleo and Nicole Stroud – to letters of intent during the early signing period. That quartet has been ranked as a top-10 recruiting classes by several different services.
“We added four players that bring balance and versatility to our program,” Landers said. “The balance being that we added two from the backcourt and two from the frontcourt. The versatility is that I believe all four of them could play at least two positions for us, which doubles the chances of them being able to come in and fit in and contribute.”
Carter, a 5-9, guard from Newton County High School in Covington, Ga., is listed as the No. 21 recruit by the All-Star Girls Report and at No. 27 by scout.com.
Lee, a 6-2, forward from Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer, Ala., has been ranked as the nation’s No. 78 prospect by the All-Star Girls Report.
Puleo, a 5-9, guard from William Blount High School in Maryville, Tenn., is rated as the No. 40 prospect by Blue Star Recruiting and the No. 49 recruit by scout.com.
Stroud a 6-3, forward from Avondale High School in Avondale Estates, Ga., is ranked No. 37 by Blue Star and No. 65 by the All-Star Girls Report.
Record-setting tube time
Georgia will appear on TV 14 times during the regular season, the most ever in the program’s history. To date, the Lady Dogs are 10-3 on television this season.
Today’s game against Auburn will be televised by FSN South to round out Georgia’s slate of tube time for the regular season.
