University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs "Host" Clemson At Arena At Gwinnett Center
December 21, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Georgia Lady Bulldog Basketball
Georgia vs. Clemson
Monday, December 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Arena at Gwinnett Center (12,750) in Duluth, Ga.
Lady Bulldog Radio Network (AM 960 The Ref in Athens)
The basics
After playing seven games in a 13-day span, the Georgia Lady Bulldogs enjoyed a 12-day break from competition from Dec. 8-20 while Final Exams were conducted on the UGA campus.
“The break came at a good time, but it was a change followed by more change, which is not good,” Andy Landers said last Thursday. “We got in a routine where it was play, play, play. We were literally playing every other day. We went from that to Final Exams taking the front burner. From that, we moved to practice, practice, practice.
“Now, we haven’t played in so long it’s probably Are we playing or is it time to go home for Christmas?’” Landers continued. “These games against UAB and Clemson are very dangerous games.”
Georgia successfully returned to action on Saturday with an impressive 73-49 victory at UAB and will complete its pre-holiday slate on Monday when the Lady Bulldogs “host” Clemson at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth at 7:30 p.m.
“We were consistent from beginning to end,” Landers said after the UAB win. “There are certainly some things that we could do better, but we improved on some things we’ve focused on. We eliminated some turnovers, and we rebounded the ball very well. We executed pretty well on both ends of the floor from beginning to end.”
The loss snapped a two-game losing skid and produced much improved numbers in aforementioned statistical categories.
Georgia averaged 16.9 turnovers in its first eight games before committing 49 TOs in setbacks to Georgia Tech and Rutgers. The Lady Dogs had just 15 TOs in Birmingham.
After outrebounding their opposition by an average of 12.9 boards in their first eight outings, the Lady Bulldogs were a combined -5 against the Yellow Jackets and Scarlet Knights. Georgia gained a +15 edge on the glass versus the Blazers.
Georgia enters the Clemson contest with an 8-3 record, while the Tigers are 8-2 on the season.
Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson lead the Lady Bulldogs offensively with their 12.6 and 11.1 points per game scoring averages. Porsha Phillips, Angela Puleo and Christy Marshall are chipping in 8.8, 8.7 and 8.4 points per game, respectively.
Lele Hardy paces Clemson with averages of 19.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. The Tigers roster is dominated with players from Georgia, with three starters Christy Brown, Tasha Taylor and April Parker and four reserves haling from the Peach State.
Series history with Clemson, ACC
Georgia owns an 11-5 lead in the Lady Bulldogs’ all-time series with Clemson.
In addition, Georgia boasts an impressive 68-14 (.829) mark versus teams currently competing with the Tigers in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Georgia has won three straight decisions over Clemson, most recently an 88-60 win in tonight’s venue as part of the 2005 Russell Athletic Shootout.
Sherill Baker recorded six steals and 11 points early as the Lady Bulldogs opened up a 39-21 lead and coasted most of the rest of the day. Tasha Humphrey poured in 25 points and Cori Chambers chipped in 22 to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
Georgia has played every ACC school but Wake Forest and owns .500 or better record against every remaining school but Duke.
In addition to the 11-5 record against Clemson, the Lady Bulldogs are: 1-0 vs. Boston College; 0-3 vs. Duke; 7-0 vs. Florida State; 28-3 vs. Georgia Tech; 2-1 vs. Maryland; 2-0 vs. Miami; 5-1 vs. North Carolina; 8-0 vs. N.C. State; 1-1 vs. Virginia; and 3-0 vs. Virginia Tech.
Last time out...
Danielle Taylor scored a season-high 14 points and Ashley Houts added a dozen points, nine assists and four steals to lead the Georgia Lady Bulldogs to a 73-49 win over UAB on Saturday.
The Lady Bulldogs used a late first-half surge to gain some distance and then put the game out of reach midway through the second stanza.
After six ties and five lead changes through the game’s first 13:44, Georgia finished the half on a 15-4 surge to gain a 39-27 edge at intermission. Houts did a good bit of the damage, hitting a three to start the spurt, knocking down another layup and dishing to Taylor and Jasmine Lee on additional buckets.
UAB rallied within six points at the 14:28 mark, but a basket by Taylor followed by successive threes from Angela Puleo quickly made the margin 13 points.
Georgia connected on 51.7 percent of its shots, including 58.3 of its second-half attempts.
Home sweet home
Alabama natives Jasmine Lee and Meredith Mitchell both enjoyed solid outings at UAB, much to the delight of a vocal following of family friends.
Lee, who is a native of Bessemer, Ala., equaled her season high with nine points, and Mitchell, who hails from Midfield, Ala., scored the Lady Bulldogs’ final four points of the night.
A familiar face
One of the most electrifying and most popular players in Lady Bulldog Basketball lore will be on the “other” bench this evening. Saudia Roundtree is an assistant coach with Clemson.
Roundtree was the 1994 National Player of the Year at Kilgore (Texas) Junior College before joining an already talent-laden Georgia roster in the fall of 1994. She helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to the 1995 Final Four while averaging a school-record 6.8 assists per game.
Roundtree then took the nation by storm during the 1995-96 season. She emerged from the outskirts of the National Player of the Year radar to become the consensus choice as America’s premier player by season’s end. Much of Roundtree’s impetus toward those honors was secured during a mid-season stretch when she averaged 26.8 points in successive wins over No. 3 Tennessee, No. 24 Auburn, No. 3 Connecticut, No. 10 Penn State and No. 20 Florida.
Roundtree was not only the choice of the WBCA, Naismith, the USBWA, the ESPY’s and the UPI as National Player of the Year, she also was tabbed as the SEC’s Female Athlete of the Year for all sports.
NCAA action comes to Duluth
The University of Georgia will host first- and second-round games of the NCAA Tournament at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on March 21 & 23, 2009.
Georgia is no stranger to the venue, compiling a 4-1 record during four different events contested in Duluth.
The Arena at Gwinnett hosted the Russell Athletic Shootout from 2005-07, an SEC vs. ACC doubleheader featuring the Lady Bulldogs and Georiga Tech. Georgia topped Clemson, Miami and Florida State during three Shootouts.
The facility also hosted the 2007 SEC Tournament when the second-seeded Lady Bulldogs defeated Kentucky before falling to eventual champion Vanderbilt in the semis.
Holiday bike program doubles
The concourse at Stegeman Coliseum was converted into an bicycle assembly shop on Saturday, December 13 as the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and friends assembled 55 bikes to be given away to worthy children during the holidays.
The program, which is in its second year, more than doubled from its initial effort of 20 bikes in 2007.
“Last year, we had several home games during the month of December,” Andy Landers said. “With so much down time, our players decided they’d like to do some sort of Christmas service project and this is the idea they came up with. I thought it was a great idea, and I’m very excited that we were able to provide more than twice as many bikes this Christmas.”
Georgia’s players, representatives of Academy Sports & Outdoors and members of the Lady Bulldogs’ booster club put together the bikes. The majority of them will be distributed via Operation Homefront, a non-profit agency which is designed to provide both emergency assistance and morale to military troops, to their families they leave behind when deployed and to wounded warriors when they return home.
“I remember getting my fist bike ever for Christmas,” Angel Robinson said. “I was four, we were living in South Carolina and there was snow and ice on the ground on Christmas morning. My mom told me there was a special surprise on the back porch.
“It was a pink bike with ribbons coming out of the handle bars,” the junior from Marietta continued. “I rode that bike non-stop as long as I could, even in the snow and ice. I think it had a flat tire after about two weeks I rode it so much.”
Landers closing in on 800
Andy Landers is approaching a significant victory tally for his career, his 800th win.
Landers has recorded a 797-249 mark in his 33 total 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.
Our take on Landers’ “career”
As Andy Landers approaches his 800th career win, the question comes up.
“Hey, the 2008 NCAA Records Book has Andy Landers with a 707-225 record entering this season. What gives?”
Well in our mind, that total is not quite accurate. Georgia politely disagrees with the NCAA on what constitutes Landers’ complete “collegiate” coaching record.
Prior to UGA, Landers compiled an 82-21 record in four seasons at Roane State Community College, a junior college in Harriman, Tenn. By the way, that’s the same school that received national headlines for having 73-year-old Ken Mink on its men’s basketball team this season.
The NCAA does not recognize Landers’ Roane State wins because they were not earned at a four-year institution.
Therefore, the NCAA says Landers’ “career” record includes only his efforts at Georgia. UGA chooses and has since 1979 to include Landers’ Roane State results.
In what we feel is an interesting side note, more than a third of Landers’ victories at Roane 33 wins, or 40.2 percent to be exact came against four-year schools. Roane compiled a 33-1 record versus four-year schools during Landers’ tenure.
Better boarding Bulldogs
Georgia has garnered the rebounding advantage in 10 of 11 games to date.
In fact, Georgia has owned the rebound count by a wide margin on most nights, posting double-digit advantages in six of wins. The lone outing where the Lady Bulldogs failed to win the board battle was their loss at Rutgers.
Through games contested Saturday, Georgia led the SEC in rebound margin. The Lady Bulldogs ranked No. 20 in the latest NCAA stats released last Monday.
Houts stealing the show
Ashley Houts joined UGA’s top-10 career steals leaders at Rutgers.
Houts posted four steals against the Scarlet Knights and is seven shy of the Lady Dogs’ No. 9 mark.
Houts’ average of 2.7 steals per game has her on pace with the most modest of estimates for games played to finish her career with approximately 340 steals...amazingly close of Teresa Edwards’ No. 2 tally.
Lady Dogs 10th to 750 wins
A 77-57 win over East Tennessee State on Dec. 1 made the Georgia Lady Bulldogs just the 10th NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to secure 750 all-time victories.
Georgia has been rapidly climbing the ledger listing the nation’s winningest programs. The Lady Dogs were the 22nd program to 500 wins on Dec. 1, 1998; the 17th to post 600 victories on Feb. 21, 2002; and the 15th to 700 “Ws” on Nov. 29, 2006.
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 has since supplanted Kara Braxton and Wanda Holloway to move into the No. 8 spot on that ledger. She is 10 blocks away from No. 7, her former teammate Tasha Humphrey.
Houts named to watch lists
Ashley Houts was named to the watch lists for both the Wooden and Naismith Awards as a candidate to capture the National Player of the Year honor.
Houts started 64 of 67 games during her first two seasons. A year ago, she averaged 11.7 points and led Georgia in assists, steals and FT percentage. Houts also led the SEC in minutes at a whopping 36.8 per game.
Houts was one of three SEC players on those ledgers that also included Auburn’s DeWanna Bonner and Vanderbilt’s Christina Wirth.
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.
Up next:
Following the Clemson game, the Lady Bulldogs will break for several days over Christmas, returning to action on Tuesday, Dec. 30 in Athens when they host Xavier at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 p.m.
Georgia is 1-1 all-time against the Musketeers. Xavier defeated the Lady Bulldogs 65-55 last season, snapping Georgia’s 13-game winning streak to open the season one “W” shy of equaling the school record for best start.
Georgia won the initial meeting in the series, 106-38, on Jan. 3, 1985.
There will be several promotions conducted in association with the Xavier game, including: Croc N New Year, with the first 500 fans in attendance receiving a pair of Georgia Crocs; Reading with the Dawgs, with local students who took part in the Lady Bulldogs’ reading program receiving t-shirts and being recognized on-court during the contest; Youth League Day, with free admission to youth teams; Middle School Day, with free admission to middle school teams wearing their jerseys; and Varsity $1 tickets, with coupons for $1 admission available at The Varsity in Athens.
