University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
10-10, 2-5SEC
South Carolina
18-1, 8-0SEC
Georgia Falls to No. 4 South Carolina
January 26, 2017 | Women's Basketball
We talked to Coach Joni Taylor, Pachis Roberts, and Caliya Robinson.
| S.Carolina | TEAM | Georgia |
| 62 | SCORE | 44 |
| 35.1% | FG% | 37.0% |
| 31.3% | 3FG% | 10.0% |
| 54.8% | FT% | 37.5% |
| 45 | REB | 38 |
| 10 | ASST | 9 |
| 10 | TO | 18 |
| 8 | BLK | 5 |
ATHENS - The Georgia Lady Bulldogs (10-10, 2-5) fell to the fourth-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (18-1, 8-0) at Stegeman Coliseum on Thursday night, 62-44, in the teams' second meeting of the season.
The Lady Bulldogs limited the Gamecocks, who sit atop the Southeastern Conference in scoring offense (78.9 ppg) and field goal percentage (46.6 percent), to 62 points and 35 percent from the floor, both season lows.
"We got off to a really good start," Georgia head coach Joni Taylor said. "We executed the game plan on both ends of the floor, but when you play a good team like South Carolina you can't turn it over and you can't send them to the line 31 times. Every time we made a run and got it close, they made a run too. Every time we made a mistake they capitalized on it. They scored, we made errors, and unfortunately that made the difference."
Redshirt senior Pachis Roberts and junior Mackenzie Engram led Georgia with 10 points apiece, while sophomore Caliya Robinson contributed with a team-high seven rebounds.
Georgia held the SEC's top-scoring offense to its lowest performance on the year in the first half as well, including its top scorer A'ja Wilson to six points. With 2:24 to go in the second quarter, Engram hit a lay-up in the lane and added a free throw to cut the South Carolina lead to three. However, South Carolina stretched its advantage to 23-15 at the half.
Engram led Georgia's return from the locker room with a layup to score the first points of the second half. The Gamecocks extended their lead to 35-22, until the Georgia defense allowed only one South Carolina point in the final four minutes of the third period. In that span, junior Haley Clark scored four of Georgia's eight points to cut the deficit to 36-30.
With 7:44 to go in the fourth quarter, a jumper from senior Halle Washington brought the Lady Bulldogs within four points, 37-33, but this was the closest Georgia came, as the Gamecocks maintained the lead until the final buzzer.
Georgia travels to Oxford, Mississippi, to contend with Ole Miss on Sunday. The game will be aired on SEC Network at 3 p.m. ET.
