University of Georgia Athletics
Game Notes: Lady Bulldogs vs. Arkansas
February 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Lady Bulldog Basketball
Georgia vs. Arkansas
Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: AM 960 The Ref in Athens
Promotions
• First 1,000 fans receive webkins with a Lady Bulldog “g” on its shirt
The basics
No. 24-ranked Georgia hosts Arkansas in Sunday looking to build some much-needed “mo” heading into the post-season. The Lady Bulldogs raced to a school-record 16-0 record and a No. 6 ranking to start the year but were just 7-7 in SEC play prior to Thursday’s win at South Carolina.
A balanced attack keyed Georgia to victory in Columbia. Ashley Houts scored 21 points (on a perfect night shooting from the field), Jasmine James added 15 points, including 13 in the second half, and Porsha Phillips posted her second straight double-double to lead the Lady Bulldogs past the Gamecocks. The victory avenged a 10-point loss to South Carolina just 18 days earlier.
Andy Landers is excited about the opportunity get back closer to that impressive early-season form.
“It’s extrememly important that we finish the season strong,” Landers said. “We’ve got to get back to competing at the highest level. In all honestly, I think we’ve slipped a little bit that regard. It was great to go on the road and get a win over a team that defeated us in Athens. Now we need to carry that over for the final game. Then we could go into the Southeastern Conference Tournament with some momentum.”
Series history vs. Arkansas
The Lady Bulldogs boast a 22-4 advantage in their all-time series with Arkansas, including a 9-2 record in Athens.
Ashley Houts and Jasmine James both flirted with triple-doubles in leading Georgia to a 73-63 victory over the Razorbacks six weeks ago in Fayetteville.
Houts finished with 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while James posted a career-high 10 assists, a game-high nine boards and six points. Perhaps most impressive, however, was their combined 19 assist-to-three TO ratio.
The Lady Bulldogs opened up a 25-point edge with 5:14 remaining before Andy Landers subbed liberally and the Razorbacks closed out the contest on an 18-3 run.
Jasmine Hassell equaled what was then her career high with 14 points (in just 15 minutes of PT), and Meredith Mitchell added 11 points.
A Hassell jumper at the 6:15 mark of the first half ignited a 13-4 run to end the period that gave the Lady Bulldogs a double-digit bulge at the break.
Arkansas pulled within six points less than five minutes into the second stanza, but Georgia answered with a 14-0 push over the next 5:19 run to essentially put the contest out of reach.
In the most recent matchup in Athens last season, Georgia surrendered a halftime lead for the first time during 2008-09 in a 77-64 setback to the Razorbacks.
The Lady Bulldogs led 43-37 in the second half before a 15-5 surge put Arkansas ahead. The Razorbacks converted on eight straight possessions down the stretch as a one-point lead bulged to eight.
Ashley Houts’ 18 points led four of five Lady Bulldog starters in double figures, while Charity Ford poured in 22 to lead Arkansas.
Last time out...
Ashley Houts was all but perfect shooting the basketball en route to a game-high 21 points in leading Georgia to a 65-49 win over South Carolina on Thursday night.
Houts was 7-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and hit 4-of-5 free throws. She also had six assists and five rebounds. Jasmine James added 15 points, and Porsha Phillips notched her second straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“The energy was good,” Andy Landers said. “The execution was very good from a defensive standpoint for the most part. Overall, it was just a good, solid performance. There was better effort. Defensively, we were more on point with the things we talked about trying to accomplish. Offensively, we were able to get some shots in transition and we were also able to knock down shots.”
The Lady Bulldogs pushed a four-point halftime lead to double digits less than five minutes into the second half and never allowed the Gamecocks closer than five the rest of the way.
When South Caroilna closed to 45-40 with 8:12 remaining, Georgia answered with a 11-2 run to end any doubt. Houts and James combined to score the first 10 points of the decisive surge.
Seniors to be celebrated
Five vital components to the success of Lady Bulldog Basketball over the past four seasons will be honored prior to tipoff of today’s game. Senior players Ashley Houts, Christy Marshall and Angel Robinson and managers Renae Bracken and Chase White will be celebrated.
“With the players, we’re talking about a senior class that has logged a lot of minutes, people who have earned starting positions as freshmen,” Andy Landers said. “It’s a senior class that’s obviously been very important to the success of Georgia Basketball for the last four years.”
Marshall, who is out with a knee injury, has the option of returning as a redshirt.
Bracken and White both have been four-year managers for the Lady Bulldogs.
“I can probably count on my fingers, if not one hand, the managers that we’ve had work with us for four seasons,” Landers said. “Renae and Chase have been outstanding. Their tireless commitment has meant a great deal to our program and their efforts are sincerely appreciated.”
Sunday serves as a second significance for White, a “leap year” baby born on Feb. 29 who also will officially celebrate his 22nd birthday.
Youth rearing its head?
The fact that Georgia’s roster features more freshmen (six) than returning letterwinners (five) was somewhat glossed over when the Lady Bulldogs were rolling to a school-record 16-0 start from November through most of January. That youthfulness has contributed to Georgia’s struggles in the unforgiving SEC.
“I’ve thought about that a good bit,” Landers said. “As you watch tape of our team play in games, you’re reminded of what freshman mistakes look like. We got accustomed to viewing the players in important roles and we didn’t always view them as being inexperienced, freshmen. When you watch tape and see the mistakes that they make, you do realize that they’ve got some growing up and maturing to do. They’re not making constant mistakes. It’s just at times. We’ve got to get more experience to eliminate those things.”
Probable? Probably not
Andy Landers wasn’t bashful about his displeasure with lat Sunday’s performance. Therefore, the “most recent starting lineup” on Page 1 of these Game Notes is not intended in any way to be viewed as the Lady Bulldogs’ “probable starters” for today.
“I think I’ll just throw it out there and whoever wants to start on Thursday will be the ones who compete and kick the others’ tails in practice this week,” Landers said after the setback in Gainesville.
On Thursday, Jaleesa Rhoden and Jasmine Hassell got the nod against the Gamecocks. Both players recorded their fourth starting assignments of the 2009-10 season, including their third starts in Southeastern Conference action.
SEC Tournament implications
Georgia, which is 8-7 in SEC play, is tied for fifth in the league standings with LSU. Mathematically, the Lady Bulldogs could still enter next week’s SEC Tournament as the fifth, sixth or seventh seed.
In fact, the only seed that’s set entering today’s action is Tennessee at No. 1.
Hassell gets O’Charley’s honor
Jasmine Hassell won the girls’ high school athlete of the year award at the Nashville Sports Council’s O’Charleys Dinner of Champions awards on Tuesday night. The honor encompassed middle Tennessee and was accepted by Jasmine’s mother, Gail Corder-Hassell, herself a standout basketball player at Belmont.
20 wins once again!
The Lady Bulldogs’ Feb. 14 victory over Alabama secured their 25th 20-win campaign during Andy Landers’ 31-season tenure at UGA. Landers’ current tally of 25 20-win teams ranks No. 6 among all-time Division I women’s hoops head coaches.
Peach Staters rule SEC rosters
Most UGA head coaches talk about “locking the borders” and recruiting the state’s best athletes as a key toward building a national championship caliber program.
For Andy Landers and his staff, that’s a statistical impossibility.
This season, there are 32 different former Peach State prep stars playing for 11 SEC teams. Only Arkansas’ roster does not include a Georgia native.
Georgia easily outdistances any other state in producing SEC wbb players this season. Tennessee is next with 19 league players, followed by Alabama with 16 and Florida and Mississippi both with 14.
In fact, there are more SEC starters from Georgia than players almost every other state has simply on conference rosters. Ten league teams include 14 players who call Georgia home as regular starters.
SECond time matchups
Arkansas represents the fifth straight home-and-home foe for the Lady Bulldogs to conclude the 2009-10 regular-season slate.
“It simplifies it a little bit in that, if they haven’t changed a lot, you know something about them and how they want to play,” Andy Landers said. “Plus, you know something about how they want to play you from a defensive standpoint.
“Obviously, they can change some of that, but most of time, there are some consistencies that simplify the preparation process,” Landers concluded
A different recipe for success
High-powered offense has long been associated with Lady Bulldog Basketball; however, defense has been Georgia’s calling card this season.
The Lady Bulldogs are 20-1 when holding their opposition to 60 or fewer points, losing only to South Carolina in Athens.
Georgia has ranked among NCAA leaders in scoring defense and field goal pct. defense all season, currently checking in at No 12 and No. 7, respectively.
The Lady Bulldogs also have found ways to win like they’ve never done under Andy Landers. Entering this season, Georgia was 0-20 in Landers’ 30 seasons in Athens when scoring less than 50 points.
During 2009-10, the Lady Bulldogs have won two of five contests when scoring less than a half-hundred. For those of you looking for a more dramatic statement, the Feb. 4, 49-46 win over LSU represented just the second time in Landers’ 987 games coached at UGA that the Lady Bulldogs scored less than 50 points and won.
A red-hot Valentine’s Day
Ashley Houts hit a pair of three-pointers in the first 3:16 of the Alabama game to stake Georgia to a 6-0 lead. That seemed to open the floodgates for the Lady Bulldogs from outside the three-point arc as Georgia scored 76 points, its SEC high for 2009-10.
Georgia finished with 12 threes, one shy of the single-game record. More impressive was the efficiency in doing so, a sizzling 54.5 percent on 12-of 22 attempts. That mark is better than the Lady Bulldogs’ best overall FG percentage for a game (50.9 against Tennessee State).
Georgia entered the contest shooting 27.8 percent from three-point range, which was worse than any other team in Lady Bulldog history. This season’s three-point conversion rate is now at 29.3 percent. FYI, the current low for a season is 28.1 percent in 2001-02.
Hassell’s ROI has been stellar
Jasmine Hassell certainly has been Georgia’s most efficient – and perhaps the most consistent – offensive in SEC play.
Hassell leads the Lady Bulldogs with a 53.1 percent FG percentage against league foes and has connected on 69.7 percent of her free throws...second only to Ashley Houts.
Andy Landers’ believes Hassell, a 2009 WBCA and McDonald’s All-American, is being rewarded for the extreme effort she made to make contributions after struggling early in the season.
“I think Jasmine Hassell has become our most invested player,” Landers said. We’re talking about a person who wasn’t in condition and wasn’t able to contribute early because of that. She also had some developing to do with her post moves. She went to work on those things, and she logged a lot of time and a lot of miles (on the treadmill) before and after practice and before and after games. She’s very, very invested and now she has the opportunity to play. She’s in better condition to play and perform. What we’re getting is a player who is probably thinking ‘I didn’t do all this for nothing. I’m going to go out there and have some fun with this.’”
Ransford in McDonald’s game
UGA signee Ronika Ransford from H.D. Woodson High in Washington, D.C has been named to the 2010 McDonald’s All-America team. She will take part in the prestigious game on March 31 in Columbus, Ohio.
Ransford missed a month of action this season due to a leg injury but returned in late January to lead H.D. Woodson to a pair of victories at the John F. Kennedy Challenge in New York.
Ransford is the eighth Lady Bulldog to earn a spot in the McDonald’s contest since its inception in 2002, following Alexis Kendrick in the inaugural game, Cori Chambers (2003), Tasha Humphrey (2004), Angel Robinson (2005), Ashley Houts and Porsha Phillips (2006) and Jasmine Hassell (2009).
A half-dozen HS reunions
The Feb. 14 Alabama game was the sixth time during 2009-10 that a Lady Bulldog played a former prep teammate.
Jasmine Hassell faced Alabama’s Tierney Jenkins for the second time this season. They played together for two seasons at Wilson Central High in Lebanon, Tenn., and helped the school to a state championship in 2006.
In addition, Redan High classmates Porsha Phillips and Amani Franklin, who played for Kentucky, competing uniforms in games played on Jan. 7 and Feb. 11. At Redan, Phillips and Franklin were coached by Rhonda Malone, a two-year starter at UGA and a member of teams that reached the 1983 Final Four and captured the 1983 and 1984 SEC titles.
Meredith Mitchell played a former Midfield (Ala.) High teammate twice this season as well. She faced LSU’s Courtney Jones on Feb. 4 and UAB’s LaKenya Lowe on Dec. 1. Mitchell, Jones and Lowe helped Midfield’s Lady Patriots capture state titles in 2007 and 2008.
Hassell coming on consistently
Jasmine Hassell’s 20-point, seven-rebound outburst against Ole Miss on Jan. 24 headlined what has been consistent improvement by the freshman as the season progressed.
That performance earned Hassell SEC Freshman of the Week honors, but her increased contributions and efficiency can really be traced to early December...beginning with the Lady Bulldogs’ Dec. 6 victory over arch rival Georgia Tech.
In the first seven games, Hassell averaged 3.9 points by shooting 39.2 percent (11-of-28) from the floor and 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from the line.
In the 21 games played since then, Hassell has averaged 7.2 points per game while hitting 54.5 percent (60-of-110) of her field goals and 66.7 percent (32-of-48) at the line.
“We’ve been telling anybody that will listen that she’s getting better and better every week,” Andy Landers said after Hassell scored 14 points in just 13 minutes against Detroit on Dec. 22. “Her strength is incredible. She would bang in between two cars and come up with a shot, but her conditioning was an issue.”
Close calls a recurring theme
Ten of Georgia’s 15 SEC games have been decided by 10 or fewer points. The Lady Bulldogs are 6-4 in those contests.
Tight contests have been common throughout league. Thanks to the research of Florida’s stupendous SID Kathy Cafazzo, we know 45 of 90 SEC games this season – or 50.0 percent – have been decided by 10 points or less.
Houts gutting it out
Ashley Houts is competing on a sprained left ankle she originally sustained in the win over Tennessee on Jan. 21 and then “tweaked” in the second half at Mississippi State a week later.
Houts, who has led the SEC in MPG the past two seasons, logged just eight minutes of action at Auburn, 10 fewer than her previous career low.
“Ashley has a sprained ankle, and it’s a pretty good sprain,” Landers said on Feb. 2. “We made the decision on Saturday (Jan. 30) that we would not put her at risk very much against Auburn. We decided that we would start the game with her because that might comfort our team a little bit and that she might finish the game.”
Can we create an honor??
The SEC does not recognize a “Most Improved Player” in its post-season honors but Georgia sophomore Meredith Mitchell would have to be a leading candidate if such an accolade existed.
A year ago, Mitchell averaged 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds as a freshman playing spot time for the Lady Bulldogs.
This season, Mitchell has started 25 of 28 games. She has more than tripled her scoring average – to 7.9 ppg – and more than quadrupled her rebounding average – to 5.3 rpg – while playing an average of 30.7 minutes per game.
