University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldog Game Notes: Georgia vs. Mississippi State
January 01, 2015 | Women's Basketball
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Starting 5
• UGA leads the series with MSU 27-14, but is just 10-9 in Starkville
• UGA has compiled a 26-6 record in its SEC openers
• The game is a homecoming for Mississippi natives Krista Donald (Lake) and Tiaria Griffin (Monticello)
• UGA was 12-0 and one of the last six undefeated Division I wbb teams when it lost at Seton Hall on 12/28
• UGA's 11/29 win at Tennessee Tech made Andy Landers just the seventh college hoops coach - men's or women's - with 850 wins at one D-I school
Keeping An Eye On...
Entering today's game:
Millennium point watch...
• Shacobia Barbee is 211 points from 1,000
• Erika Ford is 244 points from 1,000
Lady Bulldog Basketball is...
• 8 wins from the 900th victory in program history
Andy Landers is...
• 13 victories from his 950th win as a collegiate head coach
The Lineup - Probable Starters
| Georgia Lady Bulldogs | Mississippi State Bulldogs | |||||||
| No. | Name | PPG | RPG | No. | Name | PPG | RPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Marjorie Butler | 4.2 | 3.0 | G | 21 | Jerica James
| 5.1 | 1.5 |
| (5-8; Jr.; Knoxville, Tenn.) | (5-5; Sr.; Wynne, Ark.) | |||||||
| 3 | Tiaria Griffin | 11.2 | 2.9 | G | 00 | Dominique Dillingham
| 5.5 | 4.2 |
| (5-7; Jr.; Monticello, Miss.) | (5-9; So.; Spring, Tex.) | |||||||
| 20 | Shacobia Barbee | 13.0 | 6.8 | G | 35 | Victoria Vivians | 16.3 | 5.9 |
| (5-10; Jr.; Murfreesboro, Tenn.) | (6-1; Sr.; Carthage, Miss.) | |||||||
| 15 | Krista Donald | 8.4 | 7.6 | F | 13 | Ketera Chapel
| 7.9 | 4.4 |
| (5-11; Sr.; Lake, Miss.) | (6-1; So.; Temple, Tex.) | |||||||
| 13 | Merritt Hempe | 8.6 | 5.2 | F | 45 | Chinwe Okorie | 5.9 | 6.7 |
| (6-2; Jr.; Fredericksburg, Va.) | (6-5; So.; Lagos, Nigeria) | |||||||
Georgia Opens SEC Play At Mississippi State
The No. 19-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs begin Southeastern Conference play on Friday afternoon when they trek to Starkville, Miss., to face No. 17 Mississippi State. Tipoff at Humphrey Coliseum is slated for 4 pm ET.
Through games of Dec. 30, Georgia and Mississippi State sported two of the top-10 records in the nation in 2014-15. MSU was one of just four remaining undefeated teams, while UGA's .923 winning percentage was tied for eighth-best nationally.
Georgia suffered its initial loss of the season last Sunday when Seton Hall topped the Lady Bulldogs, 70-51. That ended both the fifth-best start in the program's history and the 21st double-digit winning streak during Andy Landers' 36 seasons in Athens.
Shacobia Barbee leads the Lady Bulldogs in scoring at 13.0 ppg, while Tiaria Griffin is contributing 11.2 ppg. Krista Donald is Georgia's top rebounder at 7.6 rpg.
All told, eight different Lady Bulldogs - Barbee, Marjorie Butler, Donald, Mackenzie Engram, Erika Ford, Griffin, Merritt Hempe and Pachis Roberts - have combined to score in double figures 36 times for the Lady Bulldogs.
Mississippi State is not only 15-0 but has compiled that mark with an eye-popping 32.0 ppg average margin of victory.
Freshmen Victoria Vivians and Morgan William pace Mississippi State offensively at 16.3 ppg and 10.9 ppg, respectively. Vivians ranks third in the SEC in scoring. Chinwe Okorie is the top rebounder at 6.7 rpg, but everyone hits the boards for State. Seven players are averaging between 3.9-6.7 rpg.
Quoting Coach Landers
On The Opening Of Southeastern Conference Play...
"It's always exciting to start the conference because you know you're going to going to be met head-on with a challenge on every front - offensively, defensively and in special situations. You know you're going to be going to places where it's difficult to play. There are the entertaining and terrific rivalries that exist within the league. It just brings into focus a totally different dimension."
On Preparing Newcomers for Play in the SEC
"You hope that the pre-conference schedule has prepared them some, but I think it's probably more along the lines of throwing a kid into a swimming pool and telling them to swim. There's nothing quite like it."
On Facing Undefeated Mississippi State...
"Mississippi State is just an excellent basketball team. They're very well balanced. They have terrific scorers. They're a terrific defensive basketball team, one that likes to harass and turn you over. It will be an aggressive and physical basketball game. There's no question about that."
Georgia History with State
Georgia owns a 27-14 lead in matchups with Mississippi State; however, UGA's edge in games played in Starkville is just 10-9.
The Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs split a pair of meetings last season. Mississippi State secured an 80-67 win in Starkville on Feb. 2 and Georgia avenged that setback a month later to the day with a 77-48 victory in Athens in the regular-season finale.
Merritt Hempe's career-high 22 points led all scorers last season in Athens, while Khaalidah Miller added 18 points, Tiaria Griffin chipped in 16 and Shacobia Barbee scored 10.
Miller, Georgia's lone senior, set the tone in her final appearance in Stegeman Coliseum, scoring five of Georgia's 13 points as the home side opened up an early lead with a 13-0 run.
Miller's nailed a deep 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to push the Lady Bulldogs to a 29-point advantage. Georgia led by 25 points or more throughout the second half.
Last season in Starkville, Mississippi State defeated Georgia despite a career-high 27 points by Erika Ford.
State used a 9-0 run early in the game to grab the lead, gradually expanded that margin to 18 points late in the period and then withstood several rallies by Georgia in the second stanza.
The Lady Bulldogs pulled within 71-65 on a Krista Donald layup with 2:22 remaining; however, Martha Alwal answered with a layin of her own on the other end.
Last Time Out
Georgia's undefeated season came to an end on Sunday as Seton Hall upset the Lady Bulldogs, 70-51.
Tiaria Griffin led four Lady Bulldogs with double-digit stats. Griffin scored 16 points, Merritt Hempe added 13 and Pachis Roberts chipped in 11. Krista Donald grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. Seton Hall's Tabatha Richardson-Smith led all scorers with 25 points.
Georgia trailed most of the first half but rallied to take a 41-29 lead with 12:47 remaining. The Lady Bulldogs failed on two chances to add to that margin before Seton Hall exploded on a 25-2 run to seal the victory.
Tiffany Jones started the decisive surge with a layup at the 11:45 mark, and Richardson-Smith's 3-pointer capped the run that put the Pirates up 64-43 with 5:55 left.
After trailing 33-25 at halftime, Georgia quickly scored the first five points of the second stanza and eventually tied the game three times before going up by two on a Mackenzie Engram layup.
Engram and Shacobia Barbee missed shots that could have pushed the margin further before the Pirates seized control en route to their 11th straight win and 13th consecutive home victory dating back to last season.
Georgia In SEC Openers
Georgia has compiled a 26-6 record in SEC openers since the league began administering women's basketball in 1982-83. The Lady Bulldogs are 11-4 when beginning league play on the road.
Georgia has won 12 of its last 14 initial SEC outings, dropping only a 66-58 decision at Vanderbilt last season and suffering a 62-54 setback at Ole Miss on Jan. 8, 2009.
Returning to the Magnolia State
Three members of Lady Bulldog Basketball are Mississippi natives.
Associate head coach Joni Crenshaw is from Meridian, while players Krista Donald and Tiaria Griffin hail from Lake and Monticello, respectively.
Crenshaw, who is in her fourth season at UGA, was the 1997 Gatorade Player of the Year for Mississippi. She led Meridian High to a combined 67-7 record as a junior and senior and also won three state titles in track & field.
Crenshaw then played collegiately at Alabama and finished her career with 716 points, 555 rebounds and 103 blocks, a tally that remains No. 4 among the Crimson Tide's career leaders.
Donald was named Miss Basketball by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger and the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011. She was a four-year starter at Lake High School, where she scored 2,456 points and grabbed 1,470 rebounds during her prep career.
Griffin was a two-time first-team All-State performer, earning 4A honors as a junior at Lawrence County High School and 6A accolades as a senior at Hattiesburg High. She averaged 13.9 ppg as a freshman, 20.0 as a sophomore, 30.1 as a junior and 24.1 as a senior.
Donald and Griffin both expect large contingents of family members and friends on hand in Starkville on Friday afternoon. Donald said "about 50" people from Lake will be at the contest. Griffin said she expects "probably two bus loads" to make their way to Humphrey Coliseum.
