University of Georgia Athletics
Dog Notes: A Run To Remember
November 29, 2016 | Women's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
There are no magic words in coaching, right? No sentence or two said in a huddle to jumpstart a struggling squad or cause the lightbulb to go off inside everyone's head at the same time?
Maybe — maybe not. What's certain is that the Georgia women's basketball team and Kennesaw State were tied 7-7 at the first media timeout Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum. The Lady Bulldogs had scored the game's first five points, the Owls had then reeled off seven straight and at the first timeout it was even at 7 apiece.
Georgia was technically on a 2-0 run at the time of that timeout, with 4:27 left in the quarter, after the Owls went up 7-5 with 6:22 remaining in the period. What followed that timeout was 33 straight points for the Bulldogs, who went to an easy 82-40 win.
So what did coach Joni Taylor say? And did she write it down for future use?
"I really didn't," Taylor said after her first game back as head coach following the birth of her daughter on Nov. 3. "That timeout was just talking about some things defensively to change a little bit, not really change but just reminders.
"My conversation came in the third quarter, when the timeout came."
Georgia (5-2) led the Owls (1-5) 44-12 at halftime and Taylor had encouraged her team during the break to come out strong in the third quarter. When that didn't happen — Kennesaw State scored the first five points while Georgia was a bit sloppy — Taylor expressed her displeasure during a timeout at the 6:05 mark of the third.
"Just to come out in the third quarter like we ended the second is what she wanted and that's now what we gave her," said Georgia forward Mackenzie Engram, who scored 23 points on her 21st birthday.
Of course the game was pretty much over by then, thanks to what ended up being a 35-0 run in the first half, from 5-7 down to a 40-7 lead. Five different Lady Bulldogs scored during the run, which also included 11 assists, six steals and three blocked shots.
"I thought we did a really good job of locking in, executing and running in transition," Taylor said, "and then making sure that we did our best defensively to make it tough on them."
It was tough, all right. The Owls turned the ball over 14 times during the run and missed 12 field-goal attempts. When the run was at 33-0, the Owls' Allison Johnson was fouled and went to the line for two shots, but missed them both and the streak continued a little longer.
Kennesaw State's Aereon Smith finally stopped the run with a 16-foot jumper, making it 40-9 with 1:46 to play in the first half. Georgia's Pachis Roberts said she enjoyed a similar run in a high school game.
"Honestly, it feels pretty good while you're playing but you don't really notice it until there's a timeout called and everything has stopped," said Roberts, who filled up the stat sheet with 8 points, 14 rebounds six assists and four steals.
What does a coach say to her team when everything is going right, or does she say anything?
"You continue to challenge them," Taylor said, adding, "The message was: keep your foot on their throat, continue to pound away, continue to rebound, continue to be great defensively, continue to execute on offense, continue to stay focused and give great effort."
High Efficiency
Any game with a 35-0 run is probably going to be a game with some good numbers, which was certainly the case Tuesday. In the first half Georgia went 19-for-32 from the field and assisted on 15 of the 19 field goals. Engram was 6-for-8 and forward Caliya Robinson was 5-for-8.
Engram ended up a hyper-efficient 10-for-15 from the floor, to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks (though she did have four turnovers. Robinson, who led Georgia with 25 points (along with 10 rebounds and four blocks), was 9-for-17 from the field.
As a team, Georgia made 10 of 15 shots in its 23-point second quarter and wound up shooting 58.2 percent for the game. The Lady Dogs didn't shoot worse than 52.9 percent in a quarter, thought it was a rough night at the line. Georgia was 14-for-24 and Roberts was 1 of 6. She came into the night 38-for-42 for the season, having hit 16 straight over the previous two games.
"Whoo, I know, and I never do that," Roberts said of her tough night at the stripe.
Taylor's Back
Taylor gave birth to Jacie Elise Taylor early on the morning of Nov. 3, and was on the bench for the Nov. 11 (her due date) season opener against South Carolina State. She was assisting and associate head coach Karen Lange was the acting head coach.
That was the setup for the previous home games and the road game at Georgia Tech on Nov. 20. For the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas over Thanksgiving, Taylor was at home with her family here in Athens, watching online. Taylor said it was good to be back.
"It was good; in a way I was like, I feel like this is the first game," Taylor said. "Obviously I was sitting on the sidelines for the other home games but not actively coaching, so it felt really good to be back out there and to be with the girls."
Engram said having Taylor back pacing the sideline and Lange assisting from the bench didn't create too much of a change.
"They weren't much different, [as far as] coaching styles, so it's just Coach Karen talking less and Coach Joni talking more," she said.
As for Georgia's newest and smallest die-hard fan, she made an appearance at shoot-around before Tuesday's game.
What's Next?
Georgia will be back in action on Saturday, at Oklahoma State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
