University of Georgia Athletics
Mitchell Nets Career-High 17 In Lady Dog Win
December 09, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Behind Mitchell’s career night, two other players – Ashley Houts (13) and Anne Marie Armstrong (10) found double digits while every Georgia player scored on the night. Houts’ effort pushed her past the 1,200-point mark for her career. Mitchell has now posted double-digits in three straight games.
Tennessee State falls to 3-5 on the year.
"I am certainly glad that we won, but I thought it was probably our poorest effort of the year," head coach Andy Landers said. "We turned the ball over unnecessarily. We continue to miss free throws, continue not to rebound the way we need to in order to be a good basketball team. It's just a llittle bit frustrating. When you consider that you are being in kids off the bench who cherish the oppportunity to play, you would think those kids are excited about playing and are going to push it home. But regardless, from our starters to our best players down, I am not sure that anybody played any where as close to as they are capable of playing."
Having gotten off to a slow start and finding themselves in an early 5-0 hole, it was a lay-up from Angel Robinson that gave Georgia its first lead of the evening at 6-5 with 13:56 remaining in the first. Robinson then came up with a loud block down the other end and Houts converted on an old-fashioned three-point play on that possession to get the Lady Dogs back on track.
UGA forced a shot clock violation out of Tennessee State next time down and Anne Marie Armstrong followed that with a short jumper to make it 11-5. Candace Williams hit a three from the top left with just over 12 minutes to go and Porsha Phillips knocked down an open look on the next possession to cap what became a 16-0 Georgia run with the Lady Dogs leading 16-5 with 11:29 left.
A three-pointer from the Lady Tigers’ Jasmin Shuler with 5:01 to go cut Georgia’s lead to just seven at 26-19, but the Lady Bulldogs netted the next nine points to go up by the half’s largest margin of 16, at 35-19, with 2:11 to play in the opening period.
A Meredith Mitchell lay-in closed out the half for Georgia, which went into halftime guarding a 16-point lead at 37-21.
After hitting a three to kickstart the second half, James was 1-for-2 at the line with 17:32 on the clock to give Georgia its first 20-point lead of the night at 43-23. The teams traded buckets on the next couple possessions before the Lady Bulldogs began to break away starting with another Armstrong three. That would lead off a 10-0 Georgia run as the home team stretched the lead to 57-29 with 13:06 left. The Lady Dogs led by 30 with under 10 to go, but Tennessee State cut it back to 21 after a 7-0 run of their own coupled with a Lady Bulldog scoring drought that spanned nearly five minutes late in the second.
A jumper for freshman Jasmine Hassell broke that dry spell, and put the Lady Dogs up 23 at 67-44 with 1:54 to play. Hassell then took a crisp pass from Houts in the lane for a lay-up with 48 seconds to go as Georgia finished up with a 21-point lead at the buzzer.
James’ nine rebounds led the Lady Bulldogs and was a career-high. Robinson tied her career-high in blocks with four.
The Lady Tigers were paced by Jasmine Smith’s 20 points, while she also tallied a game-high 13 rebounds to pick up the double-double, and led all players with four steals. Oby Okafor scored 12 for TSU.
Georgia is now 20-1 all-time against members of the Ohio Valley Conference and 4-0 against Tennessee State. Tonight marked the teams’ first meeting since 1989.
The Lady Dogs will now take a 12-day break for final exams before continuing their five-game homestand on Sunday, Dec. 20 vs. Virginia in a 2:30 p.m. contest at Stegeman Coliseum.
