University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs To Face Tennessee In Knoxville
February 04, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Lady Bulldog Basketball
Georgia at Tennessee
Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Thompson-Boling Arena (21.678) in Knoxville, Tenn.
FOX Sports South (Dave Neal, play-by-play; Debbie Antonelli, color; Jenn Hildreth, sideline)
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (AM960 The Ref in Athens)
The basics
Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs look to add an impressive notch to their four-game winning streak and make history when they travel to Knoxville to face. No. 12 Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Volunteers will tip off at 7:00 p.m. in a FOX Sports South regionally televised outing...although we’re quite confident a heaping helping of national coverage will find its way to Knoxville.
Georgia enters the contest with a 15-7 record. With a victory, the Lady Dogs would guarantee their 30th consecutive winning season under Andy Landers. Landers’ 29 straight winning records at Georgia ranks second nationally to Tennessee coach Pat Summitt’s mark of 34 campaigns.
And while the Lady Bulldogs’ current four-game string is rather modest in quantity, it’s quite impressive in quality. On the past two Thursdays, Georgia has defeated No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 5 (and previously undefeated) Auburn...the only setbacks those two league-leaders have endured.
What a difference a fortnight can make! Two Sundays ago, Georgia fell to 11-7 overall and 1-2 in the SEC following its first loss to Florida since 2004...by the way, the Gators also are tied atop the SEC standings.
“For Georgia Basketball, we were in a hole record-wise,” Landers said. “That many losses, that early that’s crazy. You’re in that deep, dark hole. We’ve started climbing out of the hole. And character will allow you to do that.”
Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson lead Georgia offensively...and in virtually every other statistical category. Houts’ scoring average of 12.0 points per game paces the Lady Bulldogs, and she tops Georgia’s production in assists (4.8), steals (2.4), free throw percentage (.782) and minutes played (36.7) as well. Robinson boasts a scoring average at 11.0 points per outing, and she leads the team in rebounds (8.8), blocks (2.2) and field goal percentage (.547).
Virtually every player on the roster has contributed to the Lady Bulldogs’ recent upswing, most notably Porsha Phillips and Christy Marshall.
Phillips, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, is averaging 16.0 points and shooting an eye-popping 64.3 percent from the floor over the past four games. Marshall is averaging 14.0 points and hitting 48.0 percent of her field goals in the last two games...more than 10 percent better than her FG percentage prior to those outings.
Series history vs. Tennessee
Tennessee is the lone SEC school with a winning record over Georgia.
The Lady Volunteers sport a 38-14 lead in the overall series, including a 15-4 mark in Knoxville.
On the flip side, the Lady Bulldogs’ 14 victories over the Lady Vols represents the second-most by any program...trailing Louisiana Tech’s 17. Andy Landers has accounted for all of Georgia’s victories in the series, giving him more victories over Tennessee than any other coach.
Last season in Athens, Georgia lost for only one of two times when leading at halftime during 2007-08 as Tennessee secured a 72-63 victory. After four ties in the first 7:55 of the second half, a 15-3 run put the Lady Vols up 56-44. The Lady Dogs closed to 64-59 before Tennessee finished the contest on a 7-2 surge.
In the most recent matchup in Knoxville on Feb. 5, 2007, the Lady Vols closed the first half and opened the second on a combined 19-1 run en route to a 73-57 victory.
Last time out...
Porsha Phillips posted the first SEC double-double of her career 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Georgia Lady Bulldogs to a 69-57 win over Mississippi State before 5,965 fans at Stegeman Coliseum on Super Bowl Sunday.
Christy Marshall and Angel Robinson added 13 points for Georgia, which won its fourth straight game.
Phillips scored eight points in the game’s first 3:08 as Georgia raced to an 11-0 lead. The Lady Bulldogs eventually pushed that margin to 17 points at halftime.
Georgia appeared in command early in the second half before State put together a furious rally, largely fueled by a barrage of threes from Alexis Rack. The Lady Bulldogs led 46-29 following a Marshall jumper with 14:37 left before State used a 12-0 run to close the gap to 46-41 at the 11:40 mark.
State continued its surge and pulled within a bucket at 48-46 on a jumper by Robin Porter. Ashley Houts’ three pointer on Georgia’s next possession thwarted the rally and then Marshall scored on an old-fashioned three-point play as the Lady Bulldogs quickly opened their advantage back to eight.
Mississippi State would get not closer the rest of the way.
Georgia connected on 21-of-22 free throw attempts in the victory, equaling the school game record for FT percentage at 95.5. The Lady Dogs shot the exact same percentage against Illinois in a Round of 32 contest of the 1986 NCAA Tournament.
Hoops’ most complete rivalry?
It would be difficult to find two conference rivals in basketball if not in any sport who have met for as many significant stakes as the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers.
Not even North Carolina and Duke on the men’s side can approach what UGA and UT have competed for in the women’s game. Georgia and Tennessee have squared off with virtually everything imaginable from prideful bragging rights to the game’s ultimate prize on the line, including:
The 1996 NCAA Championship;
The 1995 Final Four NCAA semifinals;
The “Elite Eight” round of the 1983 and 1984 NCAA Tournaments;
The “Sweet 16” of the 1986 NCAAs;
The championship game of the 1992 and 1999 SEC Tournaments.
In addition, the Lady Dogs and Lady Vols produced the only tie for the SEC title in 2000 and also finished 1-2 in the SEC standings in 1984, 1995, 1996 and 2007.
Sideline standouts
Andy Landers and Pat Summitt rank among the game’s leaders in virtually every category imaginable.
Summitt and Landers are 1-2 on several lists, including number of weeks with a team in the AP poll, NCAA Tournament bids, NCAA “Sweet 16s” and consecutive winning seasons.
Ranking Landers & Summitt
Weeks in AP Polls
1. Summitt 553
2. Landers 429
NCAA Tournaments
1. Summitt 27
2. Landers 25
Sweet 16s
1. Summitt 27
2. Landers 17
Winning Seasons
1. Summitt 34
2. Landers 29
Just winners, baby!
Georgia and Tennessee are two of only four NCAA Division I women’s basketball programs to post a winning record during each of the past 26 seasons since the sport came under the auspices of the NCAA prior to the 1981-82 campaign. They are joined by Louisiana Tech and Wisconsin-Green Bay on that ledger.
The Energizer Bulldog...she keeps going and going and going!
Ashley Houts probably won't see the Georgia bench after she's introduced as a starter tonight.
Houts has played all 40 minutes in 12 of 22 games to date not to mention a “40-” vs. Vandy when she played all but six seconds. She currently leads the SEC in MP at 36.7...a whopping 2.8 minutes more than any other player.
That average jumps to 39.9 MP in SEC play. Houts has played every second of the Ole Miss, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi State games; 39 minutes at Florida; and all but those six aforementioned seconds of the Vanderbilt contest.
Logging major minutes especially In SEC play is nothing new to Houts. During her two first seasons in Athens, she averaged 37.9 MP in 2006-07 and an eye-popping 39.1 last season. That now means, of a possible 1405 minutes played in 35 SEC regular-season games during her career, Houts has been on the floor for 1358 of those...all but 47 MP or 96.7 percent of the time.
Perhaps more impressive than any of the aforementioned numbers and best displaying her value to the Lady Bulldogs is what Houts did in outings versus Florida and Vanderbilt. In Gainesville on Jan. 18, she picked up her fourth foul with 16:02 left in the game and remained in the contest until purposely fouling out with 25 seconds remaining. Against the Commodores on Jan. 22, Houts was whistled for the fourth time with 16:06 left on the clock but never left the floor.
Two for us, two for you
Georgia coach Andy Landers and sophomore guard Angela Puleo both are natives of Maryville, Tenn., just about 20 miles south of Knoxville on U.S. 129.
Tennessee’s roster includes a pair of Peach State natives, redshirt freshman Kelley Cain and true freshman Alicia Manning.
Landers is a 2007 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and a 2009 inductee-to-be (on Feb. 28) into the State of Georgia’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Puleo, who set Blount County single-game, season and career scoring records while playing at William Blount High School, has started 50 of 54 games played with the Lady Bulldogs and has single-handedly connected on 42.2 percent of Georgia’s three-point field goals this season.
Cain is an Atlanta native who played at St. Pius X High School, and Manning is from Woodstock and Etowah High.
Philllips earns SEC honor
Porsha Phillips was named SEC Player of the Week by the league office in Birmingham, Ala., on Monday after averaging 14.0 points in the Lady Bulldogs’ victories over No. 5 Auburn and Mississippi State.
Phillips connected on 61.1 percent of her field goals and 100.0 percent of her free throws during those wins.
Phillips scored 10 points while connecting on 5-of-6 shots from the field against previously undefeated Auburn.
Against Mississippi State, Phillips scored eight points in the first 3:08 to almost single-handedly stake Georgia to an 11-0 lead. She went on to post her first-ever SEC double-double with game highs of 18 points and 10 boards. Phillips also notched a game-high three blocks and a team-best two steals.
Phillips is the second Lady Bulldog to earn the SEC honor this season following Ashley Houts on Dec. 1.
Think Pink on Sunday
This Sunday’s game with Arkansas will serve as the Lady Bulldogs’ “Pink Out Against Breast Cancer” contest as part of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (ABCA) “Pink Zone” initiative.
The first 2,500 fans will receive pink shakers, and the first 1,000 kids will receive Pink Replica Georgia jerseys. In addition, the first 250 kids will be invited to Hairy’s Birthday Bash, a post-game party with pink cupcakes.
The WBCA announced earlier this week that more than 1,250 schools and organizations have already committed to participating in the 2009 initiative, which is a global, unified effort for the WBCA’s nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The week set aside for this year’s initiative is February 13-22.
“It has been nothing short of miraculous to watch teams and organizations across the nation rally behind the fight against breast cancer through the WBCA Pink Zone initiative,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass.
More than a game
The Georgia versus Rutgers contest on Dec. 8 was part of the Jimmy V Classic, which benefits the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research.
Unfortunately like so many other programs throughout the nation, Lady Bulldog Basketball has a very close association with cancer. Ann Smith, Andy Landers’ administrative associate for the past nine seasons, is a breast cancer survivor.
Smith was diagnosed in December 2004 during a regular mammogram. Following three surgeries, Smith has been cancer free since March 2005. She takes medicine monthly as a preventative measure and has check-ups every six months.
Lee dismissed from team
Andy Landers announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, that sophomore Jasmine Lee had been dismissed from the Georgia program.
“Coaching her had become a drain,” Landers said.
No more Jelly of the Month Club
Andy Landers would like nothing more than to end his team’s propensity to turn the ball over. It’s become the Lady Bulldogs’ version of a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, as in “the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”
In Georgia’s last six losses, 121 Lady Bulldogs turnovers have resulted in 114 points on the other end...which equates to 33.2 percent of the oppositions’ total offensive output in those contests.
Probably most glaring were two late-January Sunday outings.
In a loss at Florida, the Gators scored nearly half of their points 30 of 61 following Lady Bulldog miscues. And while Georgia won at Alabama, six TOs in the final 2:44 greatly aided the Tide scoring 12 points in less than a minute to tie the game late.
Georgia is 12-2 this season when having equal to or fewer TOs than its opposition...and 3-5 otherwise.
Board battle a key component
Entering the SEC opener, Andy Landers offered this assessment of the Lady Bulldogs’ season at that point.
“We’ve played very well at times, but we’ve also been very inconsistent in some key areas,” Landers said. “We’re a basketball team that is still very much a work in progress. The thing that concerns us most is that we haven’t rebounded the ball lately like we did in the first eight or nine games. It’s very important that we get that rebounding piece back in place quick.”
Georgia owned a massive +12.9 rebound margin through its first eight outings but possesses just a +3.0 edge in the last 14 contests...and that’s largely due to +15 and +29 tallies against UAB and Savannah State, respectively.
The Lady Bulldogs sport a +1.1 rebound margin in SEC play, which ranks sixth.
Puleo’s “Tour de Stegeman”
Angela Puleo’s practice time has been minimal since she was diagnosed with a stress reaction in her right fibula just after the holiday break. Typically, Puleo rides a stationary bike to maintain her conditioning during practice and then joins walkthroughs of opponent scouting information.
While Puleo has been spared the rigors of the up-and-down action of practice, she’s been logging massive miles without moving an inch. Athletic trainer Shannon Becker estimates that from Dec. 31 when she began biking through Feb. 3, Puleo has logged 428.5 miles.
For some perspective, following mapquest’s suggestion directions, Puleo has ridden her bike the equivalent of from Stegeman Coliseum to Thompson-Boling Arena and she’d be within 42 miles or so of Athens on the return trip.
Landers collects 800th “W”
Andy Landers became just the fifth NCAA Division I women’s coach to ascend to the 800-win plateau with a Jan. 15 victory over Savannah State.
Pat Summitt was the first and was successively joined by Jody Conradt, C. Vivian Stringer and Sylvia Hatchell, who notched her 800th “W” just five days before Landers.
Landers reached the exclusive “800 Club” in 1052 games, the second-fastest progression. Summitt did so in 961 contests, with Conradt taking 1,062 games, Stringer using 1,064 and Hatchell 1,074.
Talking about what most consider to be his individual accomplishments will usually bring a relatively strong admonishing from Landers. He’s always quick to tell anyone who asks about “his” achievements that: “I haven’t scored a single point during my entire coaching career.”
While he’s been reluctant to discuss the latest addition to his impressive competitive resume, Landers was pretty much forced to do so after a Jan. 11 victory over South Carolina, his 799th win.
“It’s never been, and I don’t want it to ever be, about me,” Landers said to reporters. “It’s about Georgia Basketball. It takes good players and a commitment from a lot of people. The terrific work of our administration makes it possible they support us in a way to compete as well as we can. What makes it a reality is people coming in and playing up to their potential. On the food chain in all of this, I rank fourth behind the players, administration and assistant coaches.”
Our take on Landers’ “career”
As Andy Landers approached his 800th career victory, the inevitable question came up several times.
“Hey, the 2008 NCAA Records Book has Andy Landers with a 707-225 record entering this season. What gives?”
In our mind, that total is not quite fully accurate. Georgia chooses to politely disagree with the NCAA on what constitutes Landers’ career record as a “collegiate” coach.
Prior to coming to Georgia as the Lady Bulldogs’ first and still only full-time head coach, Landers compiled an 82-21 record in four seasons at Roane State Community College, a junior college in Harriman, Tenn.
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 UGA. Georgia opts to include Landers’ Roane State results and has since he came to Athens in 1979.
With all due respect, its seems odd that the NCAA allows Georgia and every other women’s basketball program to count its wins and losses against junior college competition when the game was in an emerging state during the 1970s but won’t recognize Landers’ efforts in that same time frame.
In fact, 33 of Landers’ victories at Roane or 40.2 percent to be exact came against four-year schools. Roane was 33-1 versus four-year schools during Landers’ tenure.
In a side note, Roane State is the same school that received national headlines for having 73-year-old Ken Mink on its men’s basketball team this season.
Another Landers tradition
Meredith Mitchell earned her first career start against Savannah State, becoming the 62nd different freshman to start for Landers at Georgia. She joined Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall, Angela Puleo and Angel Robinson on that leger.
Mitchell scored a career-high eight points against the Tigers and collected five steals, the most by any Lady Bulldog in a game this season.
Houts stealing the show
Ashley Houts joined Lady Bulldogs Basketball’s top-10 career steals leaders at Rutgers.
She then moved to No. 9 at Ole Miss and reached the No. 8 slot during the Savannah State game. Houts is currently six steals shy the No. 7 mark on that ledger.
Lady Dogs 10th to 750 wins
A 77-57 win over East Tennessee State on Dec. 1 made the Georgia 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.
Double-digit TV dates
Fox Sports South’s telecast of the Tennessee game is the seventh of 11 TV dates for Georgia during the 2008-09 regular season.
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, FOX Sports South will show the Tennessee game on Feb. 5 and the Kentucky game on Feb. 26.
Three contests will air on the ESPN family of networks. ESPN2 televised the Rutgers matchup and also will air the Feb. 15 game at Vanderbilt. ESPNU produced the Jan. 2 date with Virginia.
In addition to the Ole Miss contest, CSS aired the Ole Miss game on Jan. 8 and also will do home dates against Auburn on Jan. 29 and Florida on March 1.
The Lady Bulldogs annually are one of the nation’s most televised teams.
Georgia is 134-81 (.623) all-time on TV. Over the past five years, UGA has appeared on TV an average of 16.2 times per season.
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 ascended to the No. 7 slot on that ledger enters tonight’s game 32 blocks away from Tammye Jenkins’ current No. 6 mark.
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:
Georgia returns to Stegeman Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to host Arkansas at 2:30.
The Lady Bulldogs boast a 21-3 advantage in their all-time series, including a 9-1 record in Athens.
Last season in Fayetteville, Tasha Humphrey’s 23 points led all five starters in double digits in a 72-58 victory.
Cori Chambers’ 17 points paced the Lady Dogs to a 69-51 win on Feb. 25, 2007 in the most recent matchup in Athens.
Georgia at Tennessee
Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Thompson-Boling Arena (21.678) in Knoxville, Tenn.
FOX Sports South (Dave Neal, play-by-play; Debbie Antonelli, color; Jenn Hildreth, sideline)
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (AM960 The Ref in Athens)
The basics
Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs look to add an impressive notch to their four-game winning streak and make history when they travel to Knoxville to face. No. 12 Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Volunteers will tip off at 7:00 p.m. in a FOX Sports South regionally televised outing...although we’re quite confident a heaping helping of national coverage will find its way to Knoxville.
Georgia enters the contest with a 15-7 record. With a victory, the Lady Dogs would guarantee their 30th consecutive winning season under Andy Landers. Landers’ 29 straight winning records at Georgia ranks second nationally to Tennessee coach Pat Summitt’s mark of 34 campaigns.
And while the Lady Bulldogs’ current four-game string is rather modest in quantity, it’s quite impressive in quality. On the past two Thursdays, Georgia has defeated No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 5 (and previously undefeated) Auburn...the only setbacks those two league-leaders have endured.
What a difference a fortnight can make! Two Sundays ago, Georgia fell to 11-7 overall and 1-2 in the SEC following its first loss to Florida since 2004...by the way, the Gators also are tied atop the SEC standings.
“For Georgia Basketball, we were in a hole record-wise,” Landers said. “That many losses, that early that’s crazy. You’re in that deep, dark hole. We’ve started climbing out of the hole. And character will allow you to do that.”
Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson lead Georgia offensively...and in virtually every other statistical category. Houts’ scoring average of 12.0 points per game paces the Lady Bulldogs, and she tops Georgia’s production in assists (4.8), steals (2.4), free throw percentage (.782) and minutes played (36.7) as well. Robinson boasts a scoring average at 11.0 points per outing, and she leads the team in rebounds (8.8), blocks (2.2) and field goal percentage (.547).
Virtually every player on the roster has contributed to the Lady Bulldogs’ recent upswing, most notably Porsha Phillips and Christy Marshall.
Phillips, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, is averaging 16.0 points and shooting an eye-popping 64.3 percent from the floor over the past four games. Marshall is averaging 14.0 points and hitting 48.0 percent of her field goals in the last two games...more than 10 percent better than her FG percentage prior to those outings.
Series history vs. Tennessee
Tennessee is the lone SEC school with a winning record over Georgia.
The Lady Volunteers sport a 38-14 lead in the overall series, including a 15-4 mark in Knoxville.
On the flip side, the Lady Bulldogs’ 14 victories over the Lady Vols represents the second-most by any program...trailing Louisiana Tech’s 17. Andy Landers has accounted for all of Georgia’s victories in the series, giving him more victories over Tennessee than any other coach.
Last season in Athens, Georgia lost for only one of two times when leading at halftime during 2007-08 as Tennessee secured a 72-63 victory. After four ties in the first 7:55 of the second half, a 15-3 run put the Lady Vols up 56-44. The Lady Dogs closed to 64-59 before Tennessee finished the contest on a 7-2 surge.
In the most recent matchup in Knoxville on Feb. 5, 2007, the Lady Vols closed the first half and opened the second on a combined 19-1 run en route to a 73-57 victory.
Last time out...
Porsha Phillips posted the first SEC double-double of her career 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Georgia Lady Bulldogs to a 69-57 win over Mississippi State before 5,965 fans at Stegeman Coliseum on Super Bowl Sunday.
Christy Marshall and Angel Robinson added 13 points for Georgia, which won its fourth straight game.
Phillips scored eight points in the game’s first 3:08 as Georgia raced to an 11-0 lead. The Lady Bulldogs eventually pushed that margin to 17 points at halftime.
Georgia appeared in command early in the second half before State put together a furious rally, largely fueled by a barrage of threes from Alexis Rack. The Lady Bulldogs led 46-29 following a Marshall jumper with 14:37 left before State used a 12-0 run to close the gap to 46-41 at the 11:40 mark.
State continued its surge and pulled within a bucket at 48-46 on a jumper by Robin Porter. Ashley Houts’ three pointer on Georgia’s next possession thwarted the rally and then Marshall scored on an old-fashioned three-point play as the Lady Bulldogs quickly opened their advantage back to eight.
Mississippi State would get not closer the rest of the way.
Georgia connected on 21-of-22 free throw attempts in the victory, equaling the school game record for FT percentage at 95.5. The Lady Dogs shot the exact same percentage against Illinois in a Round of 32 contest of the 1986 NCAA Tournament.
Hoops’ most complete rivalry?
It would be difficult to find two conference rivals in basketball if not in any sport who have met for as many significant stakes as the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers.
Not even North Carolina and Duke on the men’s side can approach what UGA and UT have competed for in the women’s game. Georgia and Tennessee have squared off with virtually everything imaginable from prideful bragging rights to the game’s ultimate prize on the line, including:
The 1996 NCAA Championship;
The 1995 Final Four NCAA semifinals;
The “Elite Eight” round of the 1983 and 1984 NCAA Tournaments;
The “Sweet 16” of the 1986 NCAAs;
The championship game of the 1992 and 1999 SEC Tournaments.
In addition, the Lady Dogs and Lady Vols produced the only tie for the SEC title in 2000 and also finished 1-2 in the SEC standings in 1984, 1995, 1996 and 2007.
Sideline standouts
Andy Landers and Pat Summitt rank among the game’s leaders in virtually every category imaginable.
Summitt and Landers are 1-2 on several lists, including number of weeks with a team in the AP poll, NCAA Tournament bids, NCAA “Sweet 16s” and consecutive winning seasons.
Ranking Landers & Summitt
Weeks in AP Polls
1. Summitt 553
2. Landers 429
NCAA Tournaments
1. Summitt 27
2. Landers 25
Sweet 16s
1. Summitt 27
2. Landers 17
Winning Seasons
1. Summitt 34
2. Landers 29
Just winners, baby!
Georgia and Tennessee are two of only four NCAA Division I women’s basketball programs to post a winning record during each of the past 26 seasons since the sport came under the auspices of the NCAA prior to the 1981-82 campaign. They are joined by Louisiana Tech and Wisconsin-Green Bay on that ledger.
The Energizer Bulldog...she keeps going and going and going!
Ashley Houts probably won't see the Georgia bench after she's introduced as a starter tonight.
Houts has played all 40 minutes in 12 of 22 games to date not to mention a “40-” vs. Vandy when she played all but six seconds. She currently leads the SEC in MP at 36.7...a whopping 2.8 minutes more than any other player.
That average jumps to 39.9 MP in SEC play. Houts has played every second of the Ole Miss, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi State games; 39 minutes at Florida; and all but those six aforementioned seconds of the Vanderbilt contest.
Logging major minutes especially In SEC play is nothing new to Houts. During her two first seasons in Athens, she averaged 37.9 MP in 2006-07 and an eye-popping 39.1 last season. That now means, of a possible 1405 minutes played in 35 SEC regular-season games during her career, Houts has been on the floor for 1358 of those...all but 47 MP or 96.7 percent of the time.
Perhaps more impressive than any of the aforementioned numbers and best displaying her value to the Lady Bulldogs is what Houts did in outings versus Florida and Vanderbilt. In Gainesville on Jan. 18, she picked up her fourth foul with 16:02 left in the game and remained in the contest until purposely fouling out with 25 seconds remaining. Against the Commodores on Jan. 22, Houts was whistled for the fourth time with 16:06 left on the clock but never left the floor.
Two for us, two for you
Georgia coach Andy Landers and sophomore guard Angela Puleo both are natives of Maryville, Tenn., just about 20 miles south of Knoxville on U.S. 129.
Tennessee’s roster includes a pair of Peach State natives, redshirt freshman Kelley Cain and true freshman Alicia Manning.
Landers is a 2007 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and a 2009 inductee-to-be (on Feb. 28) into the State of Georgia’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Puleo, who set Blount County single-game, season and career scoring records while playing at William Blount High School, has started 50 of 54 games played with the Lady Bulldogs and has single-handedly connected on 42.2 percent of Georgia’s three-point field goals this season.
Cain is an Atlanta native who played at St. Pius X High School, and Manning is from Woodstock and Etowah High.
Philllips earns SEC honor
Porsha Phillips was named SEC Player of the Week by the league office in Birmingham, Ala., on Monday after averaging 14.0 points in the Lady Bulldogs’ victories over No. 5 Auburn and Mississippi State.
Phillips connected on 61.1 percent of her field goals and 100.0 percent of her free throws during those wins.
Phillips scored 10 points while connecting on 5-of-6 shots from the field against previously undefeated Auburn.
Against Mississippi State, Phillips scored eight points in the first 3:08 to almost single-handedly stake Georgia to an 11-0 lead. She went on to post her first-ever SEC double-double with game highs of 18 points and 10 boards. Phillips also notched a game-high three blocks and a team-best two steals.
Phillips is the second Lady Bulldog to earn the SEC honor this season following Ashley Houts on Dec. 1.
Think Pink on Sunday
This Sunday’s game with Arkansas will serve as the Lady Bulldogs’ “Pink Out Against Breast Cancer” contest as part of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (ABCA) “Pink Zone” initiative.
The first 2,500 fans will receive pink shakers, and the first 1,000 kids will receive Pink Replica Georgia jerseys. In addition, the first 250 kids will be invited to Hairy’s Birthday Bash, a post-game party with pink cupcakes.
The WBCA announced earlier this week that more than 1,250 schools and organizations have already committed to participating in the 2009 initiative, which is a global, unified effort for the WBCA’s nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The week set aside for this year’s initiative is February 13-22.
“It has been nothing short of miraculous to watch teams and organizations across the nation rally behind the fight against breast cancer through the WBCA Pink Zone initiative,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass.
More than a game
The Georgia versus Rutgers contest on Dec. 8 was part of the Jimmy V Classic, which benefits the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research.
Unfortunately like so many other programs throughout the nation, Lady Bulldog Basketball has a very close association with cancer. Ann Smith, Andy Landers’ administrative associate for the past nine seasons, is a breast cancer survivor.
Smith was diagnosed in December 2004 during a regular mammogram. Following three surgeries, Smith has been cancer free since March 2005. She takes medicine monthly as a preventative measure and has check-ups every six months.
Lee dismissed from team
Andy Landers announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, that sophomore Jasmine Lee had been dismissed from the Georgia program.
“Coaching her had become a drain,” Landers said.
No more Jelly of the Month Club
Andy Landers would like nothing more than to end his team’s propensity to turn the ball over. It’s become the Lady Bulldogs’ version of a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, as in “the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”
In Georgia’s last six losses, 121 Lady Bulldogs turnovers have resulted in 114 points on the other end...which equates to 33.2 percent of the oppositions’ total offensive output in those contests.
Probably most glaring were two late-January Sunday outings.
In a loss at Florida, the Gators scored nearly half of their points 30 of 61 following Lady Bulldog miscues. And while Georgia won at Alabama, six TOs in the final 2:44 greatly aided the Tide scoring 12 points in less than a minute to tie the game late.
Georgia is 12-2 this season when having equal to or fewer TOs than its opposition...and 3-5 otherwise.
Board battle a key component
Entering the SEC opener, Andy Landers offered this assessment of the Lady Bulldogs’ season at that point.
“We’ve played very well at times, but we’ve also been very inconsistent in some key areas,” Landers said. “We’re a basketball team that is still very much a work in progress. The thing that concerns us most is that we haven’t rebounded the ball lately like we did in the first eight or nine games. It’s very important that we get that rebounding piece back in place quick.”
Georgia owned a massive +12.9 rebound margin through its first eight outings but possesses just a +3.0 edge in the last 14 contests...and that’s largely due to +15 and +29 tallies against UAB and Savannah State, respectively.
The Lady Bulldogs sport a +1.1 rebound margin in SEC play, which ranks sixth.
Puleo’s “Tour de Stegeman”
Angela Puleo’s practice time has been minimal since she was diagnosed with a stress reaction in her right fibula just after the holiday break. Typically, Puleo rides a stationary bike to maintain her conditioning during practice and then joins walkthroughs of opponent scouting information.
While Puleo has been spared the rigors of the up-and-down action of practice, she’s been logging massive miles without moving an inch. Athletic trainer Shannon Becker estimates that from Dec. 31 when she began biking through Feb. 3, Puleo has logged 428.5 miles.
For some perspective, following mapquest’s suggestion directions, Puleo has ridden her bike the equivalent of from Stegeman Coliseum to Thompson-Boling Arena and she’d be within 42 miles or so of Athens on the return trip.
Landers collects 800th “W”
Andy Landers became just the fifth NCAA Division I women’s coach to ascend to the 800-win plateau with a Jan. 15 victory over Savannah State.
Pat Summitt was the first and was successively joined by Jody Conradt, C. Vivian Stringer and Sylvia Hatchell, who notched her 800th “W” just five days before Landers.
Landers reached the exclusive “800 Club” in 1052 games, the second-fastest progression. Summitt did so in 961 contests, with Conradt taking 1,062 games, Stringer using 1,064 and Hatchell 1,074.
Talking about what most consider to be his individual accomplishments will usually bring a relatively strong admonishing from Landers. He’s always quick to tell anyone who asks about “his” achievements that: “I haven’t scored a single point during my entire coaching career.”
While he’s been reluctant to discuss the latest addition to his impressive competitive resume, Landers was pretty much forced to do so after a Jan. 11 victory over South Carolina, his 799th win.
“It’s never been, and I don’t want it to ever be, about me,” Landers said to reporters. “It’s about Georgia Basketball. It takes good players and a commitment from a lot of people. The terrific work of our administration makes it possible they support us in a way to compete as well as we can. What makes it a reality is people coming in and playing up to their potential. On the food chain in all of this, I rank fourth behind the players, administration and assistant coaches.”
Our take on Landers’ “career”
As Andy Landers approached his 800th career victory, the inevitable question came up several times.
“Hey, the 2008 NCAA Records Book has Andy Landers with a 707-225 record entering this season. What gives?”
In our mind, that total is not quite fully accurate. Georgia chooses to politely disagree with the NCAA on what constitutes Landers’ career record as a “collegiate” coach.
Prior to coming to Georgia as the Lady Bulldogs’ first and still only full-time head coach, Landers compiled an 82-21 record in four seasons at Roane State Community College, a junior college in Harriman, Tenn.
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 UGA. Georgia opts to include Landers’ Roane State results and has since he came to Athens in 1979.
With all due respect, its seems odd that the NCAA allows Georgia and every other women’s basketball program to count its wins and losses against junior college competition when the game was in an emerging state during the 1970s but won’t recognize Landers’ efforts in that same time frame.
In fact, 33 of Landers’ victories at Roane or 40.2 percent to be exact came against four-year schools. Roane was 33-1 versus four-year schools during Landers’ tenure.
In a side note, Roane State is the same school that received national headlines for having 73-year-old Ken Mink on its men’s basketball team this season.
Another Landers tradition
Meredith Mitchell earned her first career start against Savannah State, becoming the 62nd different freshman to start for Landers at Georgia. She joined Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall, Angela Puleo and Angel Robinson on that leger.
Mitchell scored a career-high eight points against the Tigers and collected five steals, the most by any Lady Bulldog in a game this season.
Houts stealing the show
Ashley Houts joined Lady Bulldogs Basketball’s top-10 career steals leaders at Rutgers.
She then moved to No. 9 at Ole Miss and reached the No. 8 slot during the Savannah State game. Houts is currently six steals shy the No. 7 mark on that ledger.
Lady Dogs 10th to 750 wins
A 77-57 win over East Tennessee State on Dec. 1 made the Georgia 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.
Double-digit TV dates
Fox Sports South’s telecast of the Tennessee game is the seventh of 11 TV dates for Georgia during the 2008-09 regular season.
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, FOX Sports South will show the Tennessee game on Feb. 5 and the Kentucky game on Feb. 26.
Three contests will air on the ESPN family of networks. ESPN2 televised the Rutgers matchup and also will air the Feb. 15 game at Vanderbilt. ESPNU produced the Jan. 2 date with Virginia.
In addition to the Ole Miss contest, CSS aired the Ole Miss game on Jan. 8 and also will do home dates against Auburn on Jan. 29 and Florida on March 1.
The Lady Bulldogs annually are one of the nation’s most televised teams.
Georgia is 134-81 (.623) all-time on TV. Over the past five years, UGA has appeared on TV an average of 16.2 times per season.
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 ascended to the No. 7 slot on that ledger enters tonight’s game 32 blocks away from Tammye Jenkins’ current No. 6 mark.
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:
Georgia returns to Stegeman Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to host Arkansas at 2:30.
The Lady Bulldogs boast a 21-3 advantage in their all-time series, including a 9-1 record in Athens.
Last season in Fayetteville, Tasha Humphrey’s 23 points led all five starters in double digits in a 72-58 victory.
Cori Chambers’ 17 points paced the Lady Dogs to a 69-51 win on Feb. 25, 2007 in the most recent matchup in Athens.
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