University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs To Host Landers' Alma Mater
December 02, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Lady Bulldog Basketball
Georgia vs. Tennessee Tech
Wednesday, December 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) Athens, Ga.
The basics
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs return to action for the fifth time in eight days this evening when they continue their NBA-style schedule by hosting Tennessee Tech at Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Georgia entered the stretch which eventually will include seven games in a 13-day span looking to bounce back from a shocking loss to previously winless Detroit Mercy on Nov. 22.
“We need a competitive spirit and intensity,” Landers said as his immediate goals following the initial setback of the campaign. “I’m looking for a basketball team that understands that when it walks inside those lines, it has to compete.”
The Lady Bulldogs have done just that, dispatching North Carolina Central, Cal State Fullerton, Eastern Washington and East Tennessee State by an average of 29.8 points per game.
Landers still sees room for improvement.
“I think we’re making baby steps in the right direction,” Landers said. “Often times, the process starts out that way. Have we moved very far down that road? Probably not. Are we headed in the right direction? Yes. Everybody has to be on the same page and make the same consistently great effort.
“When one or two people are not giving their greatest effort, that can negate the attempts the others are making to better our basketball team,” Landers said.
Georgia will probably get a better read on its progress pretty soon. This week’s slate is much more competitively daunting, with three 2008 NCAA Tournament teams East Tennessee State, Georgia Tech and Rutgers on tap in addition to Tennessee Tech, which has long been a mid-major powerhouse with a double-digit tally of NCAA bids to its credit.
Keeping an eye on...
Entering the Tennessee Tech game:
Andy Landers is...
5 victories shy of his 800th career win as a collegiate head coach
Ashley Houts is...
191 points from becoming UGA’s 30th 1000-point scorer
8 steals from No. 10 Cynthia Collins among UGA’s career leaders
Angel Robinson is...
3 blocks from No. 9 Kara Braxton among UGA’s career leaders
Series history with ETSU, A-Sun
Georgia sports an 8-0 record against Tennessee Tech and an 18-1 mark versus teams currently competing with TTU in the Ohio Valley Conference.
In addition to that 8-0 mark, the Lady Bulldogs are 4-0 versus Eastern Kentucky, 3-0 against Tennessee State, 2-0 versus Tennessee-Martin, 1-0 against Morehead State and 0-1 versus Austin Peay.
The Lady Bulldogs and Golden Eagles last met on Dec. 14, 2002, with Christi Thomas scoring a game-high 17 points to lead four Georgia players in double figures in an 87-56 victory.
Sherill Baker scored eight of her 12 points to ignite a 15-2 run to start the second half that broke open a tie game at intermission.
Last time out...
Angel Robinson scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Georgia to a 77-57 victory over East Tennessee State on Monday, making the Lady Bulldogs the 10th NCAA Division I program to secure 750 all-time victories.
“Angel Robinson certainly played well,” Andy Landers said. “I particularly liked the way she hit the offensive boards in the first half; that’s really the thing that spread apart the scores.”
Ashley Houts chipped in 13 points and Danielle Taylor added 10 off the bench.
Robinson scored six points in a quick 8-0 run midway through the first half that gave Georgia distance it never relinquished. She started the surge with a layup with 12:14 left in the half and completed additional layins at the 10:38 and 10:03 marks. The last bucket put the Lady Bulldogs up 19-8.
Georgia eventually led by 19 points at the half and never allowed the Lady Bucs within 17 points after the break. The lead topped out at 27 points with 3:06 left.
Fond memories of Cookeville
Andy Landers knows a great deal about this history of tonight’s opponent. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tennessee Tech in 1974 and 1975, respectively, and served as a graduate assistant coach for the Golden Eagles before moving on to become head coach at Roane State for four seasons and then to Athens in 1979.
“We were on the quarter system,” Landers said of his time at TTU. “It was a great four years...minus those 12 weeks of Finals.”
While Landers has many fond memories of his years in Cookeville, the butterflies of facing his alma mater have long since passed.
“There’s really nothing still there from my time at Tennessee Tech,” Landers said. “The people that I knew who were so very involved with that program are now gone. In fact, Maynell Meadows is of course the head coach with the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA. The people who worked there when I was there have since left.”
Lady Dogs 10th to 750 wins
With Monday’s 77-57 win over East Tennessee State, Georgia became the 10th NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to secure 750 all-time victories.
The Lady Bulldogs are now 750-311 (.707) in their 35-plus seasons of intercollegiate competition.
Georgia has been climbing the ledger listing the nation’s winningest all-time program’s at a rapid pace. The Lady Bulldogs became the 22nd team to 500 wins on Dec. 1, 1998; the 17th program to post 600 victories on Feb. 21, 2002; and the 15th team to record 700 “Ws” on Nov. 29, 2006.
Milestone watch II
In addition to the Lady Bulldogs reaching their 750th win, Andy Landers is approaching a significant victory tally as well.
Landers has recorded a 795-247 mark in 33 campaigns as a collegiate head coach. Only three women’s hoops coaches have topped 800 career wins, Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, retired Texas coach Jody Conradt and current Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
Considering Landers has averaged 23.9 wins in his career, it’s a pretty safe bet he’ll be presented with a game ball after some game this winter.
Big boarding Bulldogs
Georgia has garnered the rebounding advantage in each game to date this season...on most occasions by a wide margin.
In fact, the Lady Bulldogs ranked No. 6 nationally in the latest NCAA statistics with the +14.3 mark they owned entering East Tennessee State game.
The Lady Bulldogs have posted a double-digit advantage on the boards in all but two games Oakland and East Tennessee State.
Georgia’s largest edge on the glass this season is +25 against N.C. Central.
Viva Houts Vegas!
Ashley Houts was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 1 after posting three successive season-high scoring outputs.
For the week, the junior from Trenton, Ga., averaged 19.7 points by connecting on 57.9 percent of her field goals and 90.0 percent of her free throws. She also was named MVP of UNLV’s Lady Rebel Round-up.
Houts connected on 7-of-9 shots en route to 17 points against N.C. Central. She then notched 20 points, including eight in a decisive 22-2 first-half run, versus Cal State Fullerton. Houts wrapped up the week with 22 points, including 15 in the first half, against Eastern Washington.
The Player of the Week honor is the first of Houts’ career; however, she was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week four times en route to earning SEC Freshman of Year honors in 2007.
Houts is currently ranked among the SEC’s top-10 individual leaders in no less than seven statistics No. 5 in scoring, assists and FT percentage; No. 3 in steals and minutes played; No. 7 in assist-to-turnover ratio; and No. 9 in FG percentage.
Some “Madness” In December
While Andy Landers does not think the wins or losses against quality opponents during the first week of December will make or break Georgia’s season, he knows those opponents all have a winner’s swagger.
“There’s no question when you play an NCAA Tournament team it’s an attention getter,” Landers said. “You’re talking about teams that know how to win, the process it takes to win and what it takes to do just that. You don’t make it to the NCAA Tournament without that understanding. In order to qualify, you’ve had to win games at home, win games on the road, win games against teams you’re supposed to beat and beaten your chief rivals or competitors. That’s the only way to qualify for the NCAAs.”
Out of my way, coach!
Angel Robinson swatted three shots at Oakland to inch past current assistant coach La'Keshia Frett into the No. 10 position among Georgia’s career leaders.
Robinson enters tonight’s game three blocked shots away from the No. 9 slot on that ledger.
Houts stealing the show
Ashley Houts is eight steals shy of joining the Lady Dogs’ top-10 career leaders.
Houts, who broke SEC all-time steals leader Sherill Baker’s UGA freshman record, is averaging of 2.7 per game in her career.
Lady Dogs unranked for first time since Carter administration
The last time the Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs were not ranked in the Associated Press pre-season women’ basketball poll Jimmy Carter was President and Herschel Walker was wrapping up a freshman campaign that turned him into a national phenomenon.
The initial 1980-81 edition of the AP poll was released on Nov. 25, 1980...just months before Ronald Reagan would take up residence on Pennsylvania Avenue and four days before Walker capped the Bulldogs’ undefeated regular-season with 205 rushing yards in a 38-20 victory over Georgia Tech. Georgia went on to defeat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to capture the national title.
The following fall, Georgia was listed No. 12 at the opening the 1981-82 season, which also represented UGA’s first-ever AP ranking of any kind. Upstart Andy Landers had just begun to make some noise in Athens, leading Georgia to the 1981 WNIT Championship and landing Janet Harris, the top-ranked prep prospect in the country.
Since then, Georgia has been a mainstay in the polls. The Lady Bulldogs had been ranked in 27 straight pre-season polls, including 21 times in the top 10.
When this year’s pre-season poll was announced on Nov. 1, the Lady Bulldogs were in the No. 32 position among the teams receiving votes. Georgia garnered 37 points among the 45 media members who comprise the AP voting register.
Lady Bulldog staff inks top-5 recruiting class
A quartet of the nation’s top girls’ basketball players inked letters of intent with the Georgia Lady Bulldogs on Nov. 12, giving Andy Landers and his staff what is widely regarded as one of the top-5 recruiting classes in the nation.
Anne Marie Armstrong, Jasmine Hassell, Jasmine James and Tamika Willis each ranked among the nation’s top-50 overall prospects by one or more scouting services will continue their basketball careers in Athens next fall. The class has been ranked No. 3 nationally by both All-Star Girls Basketball Report and The Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, as well as No. 5 by Blue Star and No. 7 by Hoopgurlz.
“I’m very pleased with the quality of the class,” Landers said. “I’m sure this class as a whole will be recognized as an outstanding group, but each individual player is outstanding and will have the opportunity to make our team better. This is the sum total of a lot of hard work and diligence on the part of our coaching staff and our assistant coaches should be congratulated.”
Armstrong, a 6-3, wing coached by Jan Azar at the Wesleyan School in Norcross, Ga., is the reigning Miss Georgia Basketball and ranked as the nation’s No. 6 prospect at her position by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
Hassell, a 6-2, center coached by Bud Brandon at Wilson Central High School in Lebanon, Tenn., was named the 2008 Division I AAA Miss Basketball for Tennessee after leading the Wildcats to their second state title in three years. She is listed as the nation’s No. 6 center by the All-Star Girls Report.
James, a 5-9, guard coached by Lynn Whitfield at Barlett High School in Memphis, Tenn., was named the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Player of the Year as both a sophomore and a junior. She is ranked No. 5 nationally among guard prospects by the All-Star Girls Report.
Willis, a 6-2, forward coached by Hilda Hankerson at Atlanta’s Westlake High, is a two time All-State performer in Class AAAA and tabbed as the No. 11 post prospect by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
Mirror, mirror of a scoreboard
Georgia has posted 85 points in victories over Alabama State, North Carolina Central and Cal State Fullerton.
The similarities don’t stop there, however.
Against both Alabama State and N.C. Central, the Lady Bulldogs scored 49 first-half points and followed that by putting up 36 in the second stanzas.
Unfamilar sight outside of polls
Georgia dropped from No. 23 to outside the top-25 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll released on last Tuesday.
That represented the first week without the Lady Bulldogs included in one or both national poll in nearly six years. Georgia last wasn’t ranked in both polls during the week of Jan. 13, 2003.
The Lady Bulldogs began that 2002-03 season ranked No. 9 in both but fell from both top 25s on Dec. 30, 2007 following four early-season setbacks.
Georgia then rallied to win eight straight by an average of 31.9 points. The Lady Bulldogs rejoined the AP poll following the first six of those wins and appeared back in the coaches’ poll the following week.
Georgia’s streak of consecutive weeks being ranked almost ended last season. The Lady Bulldogs were No. 24 in the coaches’ poll but dropped out of the AP rankings on Feb. 11 after a loss to LSU.
A pair of wins the following week brought Georgia back into the AP poll as well.
The Lady Bulldogs maintained that status until falling to Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament knocked them off the AP’s ledger. Georgia eventually finished No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN poll after falling to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
Georgia’s Magic Number: 80
The Lady Bulldogs’ victories over Alabama State, N.C. Central and Cal State Fullerton improved their astronomical record when scoring 80 or more points during Andy Landers’ tenure. In fact, we think you’d be hard-pressed to find a better outcome indicator than the obvious...scoring more points.
Georgia’s is now 418-7 when the Lady Dogs have put up 80 or more on Landers’ watch, an astronomical success rate of 98.352941 percent.
Conversely, Georgia is just 28-8 (.778) when scoring exactly 79 points during that span, with half of those setbacks being by three points or less.
Puleo explodes at Oakland
Angela Puleo scored 18 of Georgia’s first 26 points against Oakland, amazingly equaling her career-best scoring tally in the first 11:52 of the contest.
Previously, Puleo scored 18 points versus Florida last season in Athens.
Puleo finally surpassed that mark in the waning moments against the Golden Grizzlies. She knocked down a jumper with 1:03 remaining and then hit both ends of a one-and-one chance with 2.4 seconds left.
The performance ended a horrid shooting slump for Puleo, who was a combined 0-for-11 including 0-for-7 from three-point range in Georgia’s exhibition game and regular-season opener.
Thanksgiving comes early
The last Thursday in November is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Canada observes the holiday on the second Monday in October.
Pardon Jaleesa Rhoden, a native of London, Ontario and a sophomore with the Lady Bulldogs, if she split the difference and gives thanks for the chance to play in front of numerous familiar faces at Oakland and Detroit on Nov. 20 and No. 22, respectively.
Rhoden’s dad (Tony), mom (Jennifer) and older brother (Marlon) made the trek from metro-Toronto to Rochester for the Lady Bulldogs win over Oakland. Two days later, a busload of about 50 family including the three aforementioned, her other brother (Justin) and her maternal grandmother chartered a bus across the border for the Detroit game.
A very pleasing pre-season
Andy Landers was extremely pleased with his team’s attitude and effort during the pre-season practices.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group,” Landers said. “They’ve come to practice every day with smiles on their faces. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. They’ve done it hard. They’ve done it with enthusiasm. It has been a just a joy to go to practice every day.”
UGA stays solid in openers
With its win over Alabama State, Georgia improved to 26-9 (.743) all-time in regular-season openers, including an even more impressive 24-5 (.828) mark under Andy Landers.
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 13-1 all-time in season openers in Stegeman. Georgia’s lone loss on that list came to No. 7 Stanford in 1991 in a rematch of the previous year’s championship game of the NCAA West Regional.
Walk-ons make debuts
The closing moments of Georgia’s 50-point victory Alabama State in the Lady Bulldogs’ season opener provided the opportunity for three walk-ons to make their initial collegiate appearances...and they certainly didn’t disappoint.
Sarah Stoddard logged five minutes of PT, while Destinie Smith and Ali Watt played the final three minutes of the contest.
Stoddard knocked down a long two-point bucket from the right corner with 7:45 remaining and also had two steals.
Smith hauled in four rebounds in three minutes, while Watt failed to notch any individual statistics.
Houts named to Wooden Watch
Ashley Houts was one of 30 players named to the pre-season edition of the Wooden Watch as leading candidates to capture the Wooden Award as National Player of the Year.
A 5-6, junior, Houts started 64 of 67 games during her first two seasons. A year ago she averaged 11.7 points and led the SEC in minutes played at a whopping 36.8 per game. Houts also led Georgia in assists, steals and free throw percentage.
Houts was one of three SEC players on the Wooden ledger that also included Auburn’s DeWanna Bonner and Vanderbilt’s Christina Wirth.
Double-digit TV dates
Georgia will appear on TV 10 times during the 2008-09 regular season.
The Lady Dogs’ initial TV date is against Rutgers in the Jimmy V Classic, a contest that will be televised on ESPN2. ESPN2 also will air the Feb. 15 game at Vanderbilt.
FOX Sports Net and FOX Sports South will air five games during the season. Matchups with Florida on Jan. 18, Vanderbilt on Jan. 22 and Auburn on Feb. 22 will be televised nationally on FSN. In addition, FSNS will show the Tennessee game on Feb. 5 and the Kentucky game on Feb. 26.
A trio of games will be shown CSS at Ole Miss on Jan. 8, vs. Auburn on Jan. 29 and vs. Florida on March 1.
The Lady Bulldogs annually are one of the nation’s most televised teams. Georgia is 132-77 (.635) all-time on TV.
Over the past five seasons, the Lady Bulldogs have appeared on TV 81 times, an average of 16.2 per year.
Georgia tabbed fourth in SEC
For once, the media and coaches agree.
Both bodies picked Georgia to finish fourth in the SEC in the 2008-09 season and tabbed Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson aa first- and second-team All-SEC performers, respectively.
In fact, the coaches and media agreed on the No. 1-7 and No. 12 spots in their SEC predictions. Vanderbilt was the consensus favorite to capture the league title, followed by Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Florida and Kentucky. Alabama was No. 12 in both polls.
Injury ends Stroud’s career
Redshirt freshman Nicole Stroud’s collegiate career ended before it began.
Andy Landers announced on Nov. 11 that it was not in Stroud’s “best interest to attempt to play” due to recurring issues with an injury to her right knee.
Stroud, a 6-3, forward, was a two-time All-State performer at Avondale High School where she led the Blue Devils to the Georgia AAA state title as a junior. She became the first basketball player in Georgia history to post a triple-double in a state title game when she scored 16 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked 11 shots in Avondale’s 59-53 victory over Hepzibah in the 2006 championship contest.
Stroud originally injured her knee just two games into her freshman season at Avondale. She played the following three seasons there but began experiencing difficulties last fall. A microfracture was performed to address those issues. While her rehab proceeded as planned, Stroud had additional problems just prior to the start of pre-season camp.
“She rehabbed diligently and we were very disciplined in her comeback plan and she did not start back with us until fall, so essentially she was out about nine or 10 months,” Landers said. “But she did start back initially and it was limited. Everything went well for seven or eight days. Then on a Sunday night in the dorm, it blew up on her and started swelling. We worked for a week to get the swelling out, we tried it again and it did it again.”
Stroud’s departure reduces the Lady Bulldogs’ tally of scholarship players on the roster to nine.
Up next:
Georgia travels to Atlanta on Friday to face arch-rival Georgia Tech at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The Lady Bulldogs own a massive 28-2 advantage in the all-time series with the Yellow Jackets; however, Tech has won two of the past five meetings.
Georgia’s last visit to AMC provided a milestone victory for Andy Landers. With the Lady Bulldogs 79-69 win, Landers moved past Roger Kaiser to become the State of Georgia’s all-time winningest college basketball coach. FYI, Kaiser was a two-time All-American at Georgia Tech who went on to win a combined four NAIA national titles in 29 seasons at West Georgia College and Life University.
Tasha Humphrey poured in 23 points, while Christy Marshall and Megan Darrah added 16 apiece to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Janie Mitchell scored a game-high26 points for Tech.
That contest was a series of surges, with Tech leading 21-11 before UGA led 24-21. Georgia led 39-31 at the half before Tech grabbed a 49-45 edge. The Lady Dogs answered with a 16-0 run and held off the Jackets’ final rally, which closed the gap to 64-60 with 6:10 remaining.
Georgia also rallied from a first-half deficit en route to a 71-64 win last season in Athens. Tech led by eight at the intermission before the Lady Bulldogs opened the second half with a 10-2 run to tie the game. With the game tied 59-59 with 1:55 remaining, Georgia finished the game on a 12-5 run including making 10-of-10 free throws down the stretch.
Humphrey again led Georgia with 23 points, while Ashley Houts chipped in 16 and Angel Robinson added 13. Iasia Hemingway led the Jackets with a career-high 22 points and scored more points in the first half (17) than she had in the first five games of the season combined (15).
