University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs Back In Action
November 20, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2010
Lady Bulldog Basketball Game Notes
Georgia vs. Indiana
Sunday, November 21 at 2 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum (Athens, Ga.)
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (AM 960 in Athens)
The basics
No. 18 Georgia returns to action for the second time in 43 hours on Sunday afternoon when they host Indiana at historic Stegeman Coliseum at 2 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 2-0 with Friday's win over Chattanooga, a perennial NCAA Tourney team. Georgia pushed ahead late in the first half, one that featured five ties and an almost unfathomable 18 lead changes, and never trailed thereafter.
Georgia surrendered 40 first-half points to the Lady Mocs. Much of that damage was from behind the three-point arc. The Lady Mocs hit 10 threes - compared to just three two-point baskets - in the period. UTC equaled the most threes by a Georgia foe but only made three threes after the break.
Andy Landers remains extremely positive about his team's future.
"We need to get consistent," Landers said. "Our inside people need to develop more intensity, and we have to step out and defend better on the wings by putting more pressure on the ball. That is the great thing about it being early in the season. There are a lot of things for us to work on, and we are getting exposed in those areas every time we play. It's obvious what we need to improve on, and we are excited to go to work on it."
Series history vs. Indiana
Georgia won its two previous meetings with Indiana during the 1983 and 1995 NCAA Tournaments...en route to reaching the Final Four.
Most recently, current assistant coach La'Keshia Frett Meredith scored a game-high 22 points to lead Georgia to an 81-64 decision over the Hoosiers in the first round of the 1995 edition of "March Madness."
The Lady Bulldogs rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit in that contest. Georgia led by two at intermission and opened the second stanza with a 16-3 surge to take control of the contest.
UGA then went on to defeat Louisville (81-68) in Athens and both N.C. State (98-79) and No. 2 Colorado (82-79) at the Midwest Regional in Des Moines, Iowa.
The nucleus of that squad led Georgia to an NCAA runner-up finish in 1996.
The Lady Bulldogs also dispatched the Hoosiers, 86-70, in the "Sweet 16" round of the 1983 Mideast Regional in South Bend, Ind. Janet Harris' double-double of 27 points and 16 rebounds led Georgia, which then topped Tennessee to earn the first of what is now five Final Four appearances for the Lady Bulldogs.
Last time out...
The 18th-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs saw four players find double figures, paced by Jasmine Hassell's 16, in a 79-69 victory over Chattanooga on Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
Hassell came off the bench to register 19 minutes in the post, going 7-of-11 from the floor for her game-high output. Porsha Phillips (15), Jasmine James (14) and Tamika Willis (12) followed suit as the Lady Bulldogs shot 52 percent for the game. Phillips contributed 12 rebounds on the night to lead Georgia to a 45-22 edge on the boards.
Willis shot 6-for-7 in her first career start as the sophomore has now missed only one field-goal attempt on the season after going 4-for-4 in the opener vs. Georgia Southern.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that saw five ties and a staggering 18 lead changes. The Lady Bulldogs then strung together a 7-0 run to close the first frame to secure a six-point lead, 46-40, at the break.
Georgia built its largest lead of the game to that point at 10, 54-44, with 14:36 to go. After Chattanooga pulled it back to within seven with 12:11 left, the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 9-0 run.
Chattanooga was led by Whitney Hood's 14 points, while Tenisha Townsend ended with 13 and Kayla Christopher 11 as Georgia was able to keep the sharp-shooting guard off the scoreboard in the second half.
Holiday bragging rights on line
Holiday bragging rights at the Newbauer household are on the line during Sunday's game with Indiana.
Georgia assistant coach Cameron Newbauer faces the unenviable task of scouting his younger sister, Andrea, a freshman guard on the Hoosier roster.
Cam is in his fourth season with the Lady Bulldogs and seventh year in Athens. He served as a graduate assistant with the Georgia men's program from 2003-04 and as the Bulldogs' director of basketball operations from 2005-07 before joining Andy Landers' staff.
Andrea led Fort Wayne Concordia High School to the Indiana 2010 3A state title, averaging 13.5 points per game for the 24-3 Cadets. She was tabbed an Indiana Senior and Junior All-Star and was named to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association all-state team as a senior.
Willis makes most of first start
Tamika Willis posted a career-high scoring output for the second time in as many games with 12 points in her first career start on Friday against Chattanooga.
Willis scored nine points against Georgia Southern in the opener, five points better than her previous high as a freshman.
In fact, Willis has scored 21 points - on a white-hot 10-of-11 shooting from the field - in two games to date in 2010-11. That's already four more points than she scored in 13 games played during the 2009-10 season.
Landers' 1000th game at UGA
The Chattanooga contest represented Andy Landers' 1000th game as the University of Georgia's head coach.
Landers coacLanders, who was presented a commemmorative ball prior to tip-off against UTC, coached his first game with the Lady Bulldogs on Nov. 10, 1979. Georgia earned a 88-69 victory over Piedmont in that contest.
Some points of reference for that date...
• "Heartache Tonight" by The Eagles was No. 1 on the Billboard charts;
• The Iranian Hostage Crisis was less than a week old (began Nov. 4);
• Gas was 80 cents a gallon;
• A ticket to the movies cost $2.47 (we're guessing $2.50 with tax);
• A Sony Walkman cost $200
Landers is now 9-1 in "games on the hundreds" as outlined below.
100 - Dec. 11, 1982 in Athens
Georgia 88, Florida 66
200 - Nov. 30, 1985 in Raleigh, N.C.
No. 2 Georgia 92, No. 15 N.C. State 67
300 - Dec. 19, 1988 in Detroit, Mich.
No. 4 Georgia 87, Detroit 54
400 - Jan. 26, 1992 in Athens
Georgia 82, Mississippi State 60
500 - Feb. 21, 1995 in Athens
No. 9 Georgia 91, Charleston Southern 33
600 - March 13, 1998 in Storrs, Conn.
George Washington 74, Georgia 72
(NCAA Tournament)
700 - March 3, 2001 in Memphis, Tenn.
No. 6 Georgia 63, Arkansas 44
(SEC Tournament)
800 - Nov. 19, 2004 in Athens
No. 5 Georgia 98, Furman 76
900 - Nov. 9, 2007 in Athens
No. 9 Georgia 81, Richmond 53
Career-highs abound
There were numerous career-high outputs from the Lady Bulldogs' season-opening victory as outlined alphabetically below.
• Anne Marie Armstrong equaled her career high with three assists;
• Anne Marie Armstrong equaled her career high with three blocks;
• Jasmine Hassell equaled her career high with one steal;
• Meredith Mitchell dished out a career-best seven assists (previously five);
• Tamika Willis scored a career-best nine points (previously four);
• Tamika Willis grabbed a career-best eight boards (previously five);
• Tamika Willis logged a career-high 13 minutes (previously 10);
• Tamika Willis equaled her career high for blocks (one);
UGA impressive in openers
Georgia improved to 31-9 (.775) all-time in season openers, including an even more sterling 27-5 (.844) under Andy Landers.
The Lady Bulldogs are now 16-1 all-time in openers contested within historic Stegeman Coliseum.
Lady Bulldogs tabbed fourth
Georgia was picked to finish fourth in the SEC this winter in separate balloting of league media and coaches.
Both bodies picked Tennessee and Kentuckyto finish 1-2 and also agreed on Georgia to finish fourth, Auburn sixth, South Carolina seventh and Mississippi State 12th.
The media voted Vanderbilt third, LSU fifth and Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida in eighth-11th, respectively.
Coaches voted LSU third, Vanderbilt to tie with the Lady Bulldogs for fourth and Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida and Arkansas in the eighth-11th positions.
Porsha Phillips was a first-team All-SEC selection by league coaches, who also included Jasmine James on their second-team. Phillips was featured as a second-team pick in voting of league and national media as well.
Record number of TV dates
A Lady Bulldog-record 15 regular-season games will air on television during 2010-11. That tally betters the most in Georgia history of 14 contests in both 2006-07 and 2009-10.
The Lady Bulldogs will appear nationally on the ESPN family networks three times - on ESPN2 at LSU and at Tennessee, as well as on ESPNU at Kentucky.
Eight contests will be shown on CSS. Airing on the network will be non-conference dates at Georgia Tech and at TCU, SEC road contests at Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida and league home dates with Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
FSN will televise home games with Mississippi State, Alabama and Kentucky, while the Lady Bulldogs' matchup with Florida in Athens will be shown on the SEC Network.
The addition of television coverage did change the originally announced game times for four games. The Jan. 13 game at Arkansas and the Jan. 20 game at Alabama both are now scheduled for 9 p.m. The Jan. 23 contest against Mississippi State in Athens is now at 3 p.m. The regular-season finale at Florida is now set for 2 p.m.
1985 Lady Bulldogs reunited
Georgia's 1985 NCAA runner-up team returned to Athens for a reunion the weekend of the season opener. The team had dinner at Andy Landers' house Saturday and was recognized at halftime of the Georgia Southern game.
That team provided one of the most electrifying campaigns in the program's history.
"In my mind, it wasn't only one of our greatest teams, it was one of the greatest teams in the history of college basketball," Landers said. "The members of that team comprised the nucleus of what was a great run for Georgia Basketball. They were great kids who were a joy to coach, and I'm excited that we'll have most of them back to Athens this weekend."
The Lady Bulldogs compiled a 24-3 regular-season record and spent the entire season ranked among the nation's top-10 teams, including two weeks at No. 1.
When "March Madness" arrived, Georgia rolled through its first four NCAA Tournament foes - Tennessee Tech, No. 18 UCLA, top-seeded Long Beach State and Western Kentucky - by more than 20 points per game.
In the NCAA final against Old Dominion, the Lady Bulldogs opened up a 31-22 first-half lead before fouls began to mount. The Monarchs eventually used a late surge to secure a 70-65 victory.
Georgia's roster that season featured many of the Lady Bulldogs' greatest players ever, a balanced squad that featured double-digit scoring averages from Janet Harris, Teresa Edwards, Katrina McClain and Lisa O'Connor.
Donald, Ford sign with UGA
Guards Erika Ford and Krista Donald signed letters of intent during the NCAA early signing period from Nov. 10-17.
"Together, Erika and Krista move us in the direction of our objective to create a deeper backcourt so that we can continue changing our style of play, utilizing more players and implementing more full-court strategies," Andy Landers said.
Ford, 5-9 and a three-year starter Chattahoochee High in Alpharetta, Ga., has been rated as the nation's No. 55 overall prospect and the No. 8 guard by the All Star Girls Report. Ford was named all-state for Class AAAAA as both a sophomore and a junior. She topped 1,000 career points as a sophomore and helped Chattahoochee's volleyball team to a runner-up finish in the 2010 Class AAAA state tournament.
"Erika is someone who has been on our radar for quite some time," Landers said. "We're extremely please that she is going to be part of our basketball program. Erika has terrific athleticism, great quickness and tremendous defensive abilities, along with an aggressive slashing offensive game."
Donald, 5-11 and from Lake High in Lake (Miss.), is a two-time member of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger's Dandy Dozen of the top players in Mississippi. She is ranked as the nation's No. 55 overall recruit and the No. 12 wing by the Girls Basketball Report. Last season, Donald averaged 19.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and was named the Southeast Region Player of the Week by ESPN Rise Magazine on Feb. 17 after scoring a career-high 37 points against Newton.
"Krista is a power guard," Landers said. "She has great strength coupled with a guard's skill set. Krista can score it from the perimeter, slash you to the basket or post you up. She possesses a truly an unusual package for a guard."
From the bench to broadcasts
Injuries forced fifth-year senior Jaleesa Rhoden to make the difficult decision to forego her last season of eligibility on the basketball court.
But that opened another door. Rhoden will now serve as the color analyst for the radio broadcasts of Lady Bulldog Basketball.
"I definitely think everything happens for a reason," Rhoden said. "As much as I hate to say my injuries are a blessing, I guess they are."
In her first three seasons, Rhoden showed glimpses of the skill set that caught Andy Landers' eye during the recruiting process. Each time she seemed poised to make a major step forward, an injury got in the way. After averaging 19.8 minutes per game in 2008-09, Rhoden saw that playing time dip to just 9.3 mpg last winter as she struggled with a nagging hamstring.
That was perhaps the final straw that forced Rhoden to realize her days on the hardwood would not materialize as planned.
"It was really, really, really hard," Rhoden said. "I thought so much about it...how my body would be able to handle playing this game and the pounding it takes playing Division I basketball, not only the games, but every day in practice. I thought about not being out there with my teammates, since this was going to be my senior season. I know having another body would help them. And then I visited with my family to make sure this was the right decision for my health and my future."
As Rhoden prepared for her first-ever broadcast with the Lady Bulldogs' exhibition game against Lander, she compared the butterflies of announcing to those of returning to the court after rehabbing from an injury. Her insightful response bodes well for her potential to provide valuable information in her new role.
"I think I'm more nervous about radio because I don't know what I'm doing," Rhoden joked. "It is talking about basketball and I know the game so I don't think I could mess that up. But to actually have to formulate words and give details and provide insight about a game I've been playing my whole life will be challenging. I think it will be harder than coming back from my injuries because that was getting back out there and doing something I'd done by repetition over and over for so many years. I don't have that type of experience with broadcasting."
