University of Georgia Athletics
Game Notes: Lady Bulldogs vs. Detroit
December 21, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Georgia vs. Detroit
Tuesday, December 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
AM 960 The Ref In Athens
The basics
Georgia wraps up the pre-holiday portion of its 2009-10 campaign on Tuesday by hosting Detroit at 7:00 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs are looking to put a bow on what has been a stellar opening to date.
Georgia is 10-0, equaling the sixth-best start in Andy Landers’ 31 seasons in Athens. More impressive than the record is the route in which Georgia has progressed to the standard.
The Lady Bulldogs have vanquished a quartet of 2009 NCAA Tournament participants – No. 13 Oklahoma, Rutgers, No. 23 Georgia Tech and No. 19 Virginia – and topped a fourth foe – Chattanooga – that has appeared in seven of the last nine editions of “March Madness.” The other five opponents have been dispatched by an average of 25.8 points per game.
Georgia is now four “Ws” shy of equaling the best start in the program’s history, a 14-0 mark to christen the 1998-99 Final Four season. Trailing that effort, the Lady Bulldogs started both 2007-08 and 1989-90 with 13 victories, opened the 1994-95 season with a dozen “Ws” and won 11 straight to begin the 2001-02 year. The current record ties the start of Georgia’s 1985-86 SEC Championship team.
Series history vs. the Titans
Georgia owns a 2-1 lead in its all-time series with Detroit. The Titans captured a 70-66 decision in the third game of last season. Prior to that, Georgia swept both ends of a home-and-home series during the 1987-88 and 1988-89 campaigns.
A year ago, the Titans, who entered the game 0-2, played well from the opening tip and led 35-32 at the half. A 9-2 run to open the second stanza pushed Detroit’s lead to double digits just over three minutes into the period. The Lady Bulldogs rallied and tied the game twice in the waning minutes but never claimed the lead.
Zemora Davis poured in a game-high 20 points to lead the Titans, while Lauren Allen chipped in a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Houts led Georgia with 17 points and Porsha Phillips and Angel Robinson both added double-doubles for the Lady Bulldogs.
In the only other matchup in Athens on Jan. 11, 1988, Sherelle Warren’s double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds paced Georgia to an 87-47 victory in the initial game of the series.
Georgia also won the rematch the following season, 98-54, in Detroit. Tammye Jenkins scored 18 points to lead six Lady Bulldogs in double figures and Georgia shot a sizzling 66.7 percent.
Of note, Carla Green – who today as Dr. Carla Green Williams is UGA’s Senior Associate AD, Senior Woman Administrator and Andy Landers’ boss – put up perhaps the most stellar linescore of her career at UDM’s Calihan Hall. Green chipped in 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out six assists (to one turnover) and collected four steals in 30 minutes of action.
Last time out...
Jasmine James and Angel Robinson posted double-doubles and Porsha Phillips chipped in 14 points to lead No. 11 Georgia to a decisive 69-53 victory over No. 19 Virginia on Sunday.
James nailed a three-pointer that ignited a 13-1 point run midway through the first half. That surge turned a two-point deficit into a double-digit advantage and the Lady Bulldogs never allowed Virginia closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Phillips ended any doubt early in the second half, scoring 10 points in the first 3:31 as Georgia quickly pushed a 14-point halftime lead to 24.
James had 17 points and a career-high 10 boards, while Angel posted 11 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-double of the 2009-10 season.
“Today was a great team effort,” said Andy Landers. “We had a lot of people play well.”
Lady Dogs return to AP top-10
Georgia inched up two spots to No. 9 in this week’s AP poll released on Monday afternoon...a position common for the Lady Bulldogs historically if not lately.
The ranking represents the Lady Bulldogs’ first appearance in the top-10 in just under two years. Georgia was ranked No. 10 in the Jan. 7, 2008, edition of the poll before losing to Auburn and dropping to No. 12 the following week.
Georgia has been a mainstay of both the Associated Press poll and the top-10. All told, the Lady Bulldogs have been included in 438 weekly polls, including 253 appearances in the top 10 and 145 in the top five.
“JJ” SEC FOW for third time
Jasmine James was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday, the third time in six weeks that the Memphis native has been honored as such.
On Sunday, James recorded team highs of 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals to lead No. 11 Georgia to a decisive 69-53 victory over No. 19 Virginia in the Lady Bulldogs’ only game last week. She notched career-high tallies in rebounds, steals and minutes played (37) and posted her first career double-double.
James also was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 16 and Nov. 30. She was honored initially after scoring a team-high 15 points in Georgia’s upset of No. 13 Oklahoma in the season opener and was selected again after averaging 19.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in a trio of victories over Alabama State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Southern Miss.
Five different Lady Bulldogs have combined to win SEC Freshman of the Week honors 12 times since the award was introduced in 2006.
“JJ” among top fr. on top teams
Georgia’s Jasmine James is one of the top scoring freshmen among the nation’s premier teams during 2009-10.
Of the 27 teams ranked in the Associated Press and/or ESPN/USA Today polls last week, James was one of just six freshmen averaging double figures, and she is one of only three diaper dandies leading their team in scoring as outlined below.
James, Baylor’s Brittney Griner and Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins are the only freshman leading a top-25 team in scoring.
Double-digit Fr. on ranked teams through games of 12/20)
| Rk. | Player, School | PPG |
| 1. | Brittney Griner, Baylor | 19.3 |
| 2. | Jasmine James, Georgia | 14.5 |
| 3. | Tarik Hislop, James Madison | 13.5 |
| 4. | Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame | 12.8 |
| 5. | Asya Bussie, West Virginia | 12.7 |
| .6 | Kayla Alexander, Syracuse | 12.6 |
Michigan has been good to UGA
Two of Georgia’s better players ever are Flint, Mich. natives.
Deanna “Tweety” Nolan and Tawana McDonald were integral players on Lady Bulldog teams that advanced to the 1999 Final Four, captured the 2000 SEC Championship and won the 2001 SEC Tournament title.
Nolan was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2000 WNBA Draft – one of three Lady Dogs in the top-10 that year – and has been a superstar with the Detroit Shock ever since. Nolan helped Detroit capture three WNBA titles and was MVP of the 2006 Finals.
McDonald was the No. 13 pick of the Indiana Fever in the 2001 draft but had her career cut short by a knee injury.
Nolan and McDonald were teammates at powerhouse Flint Northern before venturing to Athens.
Robinson hits millennium
Angel Robinson became the 31st Lady Bulldog to reach the 1,000-point career scoring plateau during the victory over Georgia Tech.
Robinson also moved into the No. 6 spot on the Georgia career blocks leaders ledger in a day full of milestones for the fifth-year senior against the Yellow Jackets.
A coach’s dream to date
Nurturing development and improvement is probably near the top of the list of goals of every coach at every level. That’s why Andy Landers had a little extra spring in his step during pre-season practices this fall. Landers knew his 31st season in Athens offered him a coach’s dream.
“You’re challenged by the idea that you can get better every day,” Landers said. “This is a team that absolutely can improve every single game right up the end of the season because there’s so many young people with so much to learn. You’re not going to get it in a game. You’re not going to get it in the first half of the season. It’s going to be an ongoing process. We have to be as coaches good communicators with young people so that they know they understand what they are getting right and how to build on that and what needs to be corrected so that they can make those corrections.”
Ten games into the campaign, Landers has been, for the most part, extremely pleased with what he’s seen.
“Everybody has done certain things well, which is very pleasing,” Landers said. “I continue to be pleased with our veterans and the example they set. They are doing a good job incorporating and encouraging our younger players in what we try to do.”
Robinson back in action
Angel Robinson returned to the court for the first time in three games during the victory over UAB.
The senior from Marietta was injured with 9:02 left against Rutgers on Nov. 22 when she fell in a pile of players and slammed her head on the floor.
Robinson was placed on spine board and transported to St. Mary’s Hospital. She underwent a CT scan and X-rays, which were negative, and Robinson was discharged from the hospital on Sunday evening.
Robinson’s did not play against Alabama State on Nov. 25. She traveled with the team but did not dress for two games at Southern Miss’ Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic.
She came within one rebound of a double-double in just 18 minutes of action against the Blazers.
Holiday hardware for two
Ashley Houts was named the Most Valuable Player of the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic, while Jasmine James joined her on the all-tourney team.
In Friday’s win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Houts scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. James scored a game-high 18 points.
In the win over tourney host Southern Miss in the championship game, Houts posted 17 points, six steals and four assists. James poured in a game-high 24 points, one shy of her career high.
Low- and High-ball history
Through the years, much has been made of Georgia’s record when its offense clicks.
With their 84-55 win over Southern Miss, the Lady Bulldogs improved to 421-7 when scoring 80 or more points under Andy Landers, an astronomical winning percentage of 93.3644859.
With their Nov. 22 win over Rutgers, the Lady Bulldogs made history on the other end of the scoring spectrum, however. The victory over the Scarlet Knights represented the first time in 967 games coached by Andy Landers at Georgia that the Lady Dogs won when scoring fewer than 50.
Georgia has failed to reach the half-century mark just 20 times during Landers’ 31 seasons in Athens, and the Lady Bulldogs had lost all previous 19 contests before the 49-48 decision over Rutgers.
Trio joins starter sorority
When Georgia welcomed a top-five recruiting class to Athens this fall, the question became more of a “when” as opposed to an “if” scenario as to who the first first-year starter would be.
During the first five games of the campaign, Jasmine James, Jasmine Hassell and Anne Marie Armstrong become the 63rd, 64th and 65th freshmen to get the nod during Andy Landers’ 31 seasons at UGA. In addition, 21 freshman standouts got the nod for their collegiate debuts.
James logged her first start at Chattanooga, Hassell did so versus Alabama State and Armstrong started against Texas A&M-CC.
Four of the Lady Bulldogs’ five returning letterwinners – Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall, Angel Robinson and Meredith Mitchell – are included on that ledger, with Houts also being one of the 21 to open their careers on the floor for the season opener.
Mitchell making a mark
Meredith Mitchell rewrote her previous career-high statistical marks on a nightly basis during the first three games of the year.
Mitchell’s highest contributions as a freshman in 2008-09 were eight points, five rebounds and 26 minutes. In the first three games the 2009-10 season, Mitchell bettered those marks and the subsequent new efforts a combined seven times.
The Midfield, Ala., native upped her scoring mark to nine and her minutes tally to 27 against Oklahoma. She then bested the board tally to six and the MP to 35 at Chattanooga. Against Rutgers, Mitchell topped all three existing qualifiers with 11 points, eight rebounds and 40 minutes played.
Mitchell’s stellar play has continued on a consistent basis.
Mitchell also: improved her career steals high with six thefts versus Alabama State; bettered that 11-point scoring output with 17 versus Tennessee State; and equaled the career-high eight boards against Virginia.
A historic Houts homecoming
With Georgia trailing by six and 30 seconds left in the first half, Ashley Houts took control of her homecoming at Chattanooga. She scored 13 straight in a 74-57 victory played just 15 minutes from her hometown.
The Trenton, Ga., native knocked down a three-pointer to cut UTC’s lead in half before the intermission and then scored Georgia’s first 10 points in the first 3:24 of the second period to give the Lady Bulldogs a 43-39 lead they would never relinquish.
Houts not only propelled Georgia to victory, she also furthered her own individual legend in Lady Bulldog Basketball annals.
Houts’ three-pointer with half a minute left in the first half moved her past Pam Irwin-Osbolt into the No. 26 spot among the Lady Bulldogs’ career scoring leaders.
Houts eventually finished with 21 points against the Lady Mocs, enough to also ascend past No. 25 Carla Green and No. 24 Cynthia Collins on Georgia’s career scoring leaders ledger.
Since the Chattanooga win, Houts has ascended over Alexis Kendrick at No. 23, Sherelle Warren at No. 22 and Janese Hardrick into the No. 21 position among the Lady Dogs’ career leaders.
An eternity of bench time
Ashley Houts checked out with 1:41 left at Chattanooga on Nov. 19 to the boisterous cheers of more than Dade County 500 fans from her hometown of Trenton, less than 15 minutes from the UTC arena.
The 101 seconds she did not play against the Lady Mocs was longer than the amount Houts enjoyed in all 14 SEC games combined during the 2007-08 season (67.6 seconds).
“JJ” in records already
Jasmine James hit six threes against Chattanooga to equal the fifth-most triples in a game in Lady Bulldog history.
James has hit 21 threes, 39 percent of the way to the Lady Bulldog freshman record.
Fourth ranked “W” in opener
The victory over No. 13 Oklahoma was the fourth time the Lady Bulldogs have opened the year by beating a ranked foe.
Georgia also knocked off No. 12 Rutgers in the initial outing of the 2006-07 campaign when those Scarlet Knights went on to finish as NCAA runners-up.
In addition, Georgia topped No. 16 Southern Illinois to begin the 1987-88 season and bested No. 14 Rutgers in the first game of the Lady Bulldogs’ 1983 Final Four season.
Red, White & Blue together
Georgia’s Ashley Houts and Oklahoma’s Danielle Robinson – two of the nation’s premier point guards who shared that role for the U.S. National Team that won the Gold Medal at the World University Games over the summer – squared off in the season opener.
Houts and Robinson virtually evenly split the playing time at point, with Robinson averaging 21.0 mpg and Houts logging 19.3 during the seven-game tournament.
Houts started four games and averaged 8.3 points per game by connecting on 52.6 percent of her field goal attempts, 47.1 percent of her three-pointers and 90.9 of her trips to the line. She also averaged 1.7 steals and 1.6 assists.
The medal was Houts’ second international Gold. In 2007, she was the lone rising sophomore on the American squad that won the FIBA U21 World Championships.
Robinson started the other three World University contests and averaged 4.6 points and leading the team with averages of 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
Marshall’s surgery goes well
Christy Marshall underwent successful surgery on Nov. 17 to repair the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee that she tore during the pre-season.
Marshall injured her knee in a team workout on October 13, two days before the official opening of practice. The ACL tear was later confirmed through an MRI.
“It rips my guts out every time a kid falls and grabs their knee,” Andy Landers said the day after the injury was sustained. “It’s an all-too-common injury in women’s basketball. My heart goes out to Christy. We’re all in a state of shock at this point.”
Marshall started 21 of 31 games for the Lady Bulldogs in 2008-09, averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. For her career, she has played in 95 games with 28 starts and produced averages of 7.7 points and 3.6 rebounds.
As a freshman, Marshall was named the 2007 SEC Sixth Woman of the Year.
Record number of TV dates!
Fourteen Georgia regular-season games will be televised this season. That tally matches the most in the Lady Bulldogs’ history. In 2006-07, 14 regular-season dates were among the school-record 19 TV games that aired that season.
A dozen of UGA’s 16 SEC contests and two non-league games will be on TV.
The Lady Bulldogs’ matchups with Georgia Tech and at Clemson will air on CSS, two of six appearances on the network. CSS also will televise the Lady Bulldogs’ SEC home dates versus Ole Miss, LSU, South Carolina and Alabama.
FSN will produce four league games: at Vanderbilt, versus Tennessee in Athens, at Mississippi State and at Kentucky.
Rounding out the coverage, contests versus Florida in Athens and at Auburn will air on ESPNU, the Arkansas game on Feb. 28 will be broadcast on the SEC Network and at the rematch with Florida will be televised by either ESPN2, FSN or Sun Sports.
Georgia is one of the most televised women’s basketball programs in the nation. Over the past six seasons, an average of more than 16 games per year have aired.
Media say 3rd, Coaches 4th
The Lady Bulldogs were picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference in balloting of league media, while conference coaches tabbed Georgia fourth in the pre-season.
Both bodies did agree in naming Lady Bulldog seniors Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson to their first-team All-SEC predictions. In addition, the coaches included junior Porsha Phillips as a second-team selection.
The media and coaches also disagreed on their SEC Champion.
The media tabbed LSU as its conference champion pick, while the coaches named Tennessee as such.
Following the Tigers in the media’s pre-season poll were Tennessee, the Lady Bulldogs, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama.
Trailing the Lady Volunteers according to the league coaches this winter will be LSU, Mississippi State, the Lady Bulldogs, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Alabama.
Simply put: she’s Houtstanding
Thanks to the efforts of research guru Dave McMahon, we now know that Ashley Houts had played more minutes in her career than any other active Division I women’s basketball player in the nation entering the 2009-10 season.
Houts played the third-most minutes of any player in the country over the past three seasons, and the two players ahead of her (and the two who were behind for that matter) won’t be playing college basketball this season as outlined in the next column.
National MP Leaders (2007-09)
| Player, School | MP | GP |
| Epiphanny Prince, Rutgers | 3,623 | 103 |
| Renee Montgomery, UConn | 3,570 | 113 |
| Ashley Houts, Georgia | 3,567 | 99 |
| Takia Starks, Texas A&M | 3,500 | 103 |
| Kristi Cirone, Illinois State | 3,484 | 101 |
UGA Career Leaders (Minutes Per Game)
| Player, Seasons | MPG | GP |
| Ashley Houts, 2007-pres. | 35.9 | 109 |
| Kelly Miller, 1998-01 | 33.3 | 131 |
| Sherill Baker, 2003-06 | 32.8 | 131 |
| Lisa O'Connor, 1983-86 | 31.2 | 132 |
| Coco Miller, 1998-01 | 30.7 | 130 |
EDITOR’S NOTE: Further research revealed that Cal’s Alexis Gray-Lawson entered the year having played 3,560 minutes. Gray-Lawson, a senior actually accumulating statistics for a fifth season, played in nine games during the 2006-07 campaign before a season-ending knee injury. She ranked as the nation’s second-most experienced player minutes-wise behind Houts entering 2009-10.
Lady Bulldogs sign three
Three premier prospects signed letters of intent to join the Lady Bulldogs during the NCAA’s early signing period. Arieal Johnson and Ronika Ransford inked their intentions on Wednesday, Nov. 11, while Khaalidah Miller followed suit on Thursday, Nov. 12.
Johnson, a 6-5, forward, is a native of Havelock, N.C., who has played the past three seasons at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. She’s ranked as the nation’s No. 18 post prospect by both the All-Star Girls Report and Hoopgurlz.
Ransford, a 5-7, guard from Washington, D.C., is ranked as high as the No. 11 overall prospect nationally by Peach State Hoops, and also is listed at No. 13 by Blue Star, No. 16 by the All-Star Girls Report, No. 21 by Hoopgurlz and No. 34 by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
Miller, a 5-9 guard from Douglass High School in Atlanta, is the highest ranked prospect in the state. She is at No. 33 by the All-Star Girls’ Report, No. 36 by Hoopgurlz, No. 40 by Blue Star, No. 42 by Peach State Hoops and No. 57 by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
The trio of prospects continue a recruiting resurgence for Lady Bulldog Basketball. Georgia’s current freshman class featured four players – Anne Marie Armstrong, Jasmine Hassell, Jasmine James and Tamika Willis – who were ranked among the nation’s top-50 prospects by one or more national recruiting services.