Lady Bulldogs Travel to Bluegrass State to Battle Kentucky

January 06, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia Lady Bulldogs (13-2, 1-1 SEC) vs. Kentucky (8-8, 0-2 SEC)
Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 // 2 p.m. ET
Memorial Coliseum (10,000) in Lexington, Ky.
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network by IMG // Jeff Dantzler (play-by-play) In Athens: 960 AM and 103.7 FM
Video: SEC Network + (Jeff Piecoro - play-by-play, Christi Thomas - analyst)

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Probable Starters

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Joni Taylor
50-27 (3rd year) at UGA
50-27 (3rd year) overall
G	0	Taja Cole	8.1	2.6
5-7; RS-So.; TR; Richmond, Va./Louisville
G	12	Haley Clark	4.4	2.4
5-9; Sr.; 3L; Orlando, Fla./Edgewater HS
G	23	Que Morrison	8.5	4.6
5-7; Fr.; HS; Riverdale, Ga./McEachern HS
F	33	Mackenzie Engram	11.9	6.0
6-2; Sr.; 3L; Powder Springs, Ga./Hillgrove HS
F	4	Caliya Robinson	12.3	6.7
6-3; Jr.; 2L; Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Kentucky Wildcats
Coach: Matthew Mitchell
249-108 (11th year at UK)
279-137 (13th year) overall
G	4	Maci Morris	16.5	4.5
6-0; Jr.; Pineville, Ky.
G	22	Makenzie Cann	7.9	3.7
6-1; Sr.; Lawrenceburg, Ky.
G	24	Taylor Murray	10.2	5.2
5-6; Jr.; Odenton, Md.
C	45	Alyssa Rice	8.9	7.8
6-3; Sr.; Reynoldsburg, Ohio
C	20	Dorie Harrison	4.7	3.6
6-3; Fr.; Nashville, Tenn.

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA		KENTUCKY
73.3	Scoring	70.4
45.7%	FG%	41.8%
36.0%	3FG%	36.4%
41.1	Rebounds	39.1
17.9	Assists	14.4
5.9	Blocks	3.9
8.9	Steals	6.2
57.7	Scoring Def.	62.9
35.7%	FG% Def.	39.4%
34.3%	3FG% Def.	33.1%
+6.1	Reb. Margin	+4.9
+3.1	T/O Margin	+2.3
1.1	Ast-T/O Ratio	1.1

Opening Tip - Notes To Know Heading Into The Game

The Lady Bulldogs are back on the road for the second-straight game with a trip to Lexington, Ky., to face the Kentucky Wildcats at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. The contest will air on SEC Network +.
Georgia is 5-0 on the road this season following Thursday's 81-52 victory at Vanderbilt.
The Lady Bulldogs have lost four consecutive games to Kentucky and have not won in Lexington since Feb. 3, 2013.
Head coach Joni Taylor picked up the 50th win of her head coaching career Thursday evening. Taylor owns a 50-27 (.649) career record since being named head coach in 2015.
Georgia has prided itself on defense during Taylor's tenure and that was no more evident than in the last game against Vanderbilt. The Lady Bulldogs forced the Commodores into a season-high 28 turnovers, while the 52 points scored were the lowest by Vanderbilt this season. The win also came by the largest margin of victory against the Commodores in Nashville since the two teams began playing in 1979.
Led by redshirt-sophomore and newcomer Taja Cole, Georgia ranks second in the Southeastern Conference in assists with 17.9 per game. Cole is averaging 4.1 per contest, which is the fourth-best average in the league. The Richmond, Va., native has recorded three or more assists in 14 of 15 games this season.
Sophomore guard Stephanie Paul is coming off a career-high 18 point game. Paul, usually one of the first players off the bench for the Lady Bulldogs, has helped the Georgia bench outscore its opponents by nearly 15 points per game this season.

Series Information

Overall: Georgia leads, 36-18
In Athens: Georgia leads, 17-6
In Lexington: Georgia leads, 13-10
Neutral Sites: Georgia leads, 6-2
Current Streak: Kentucky has won four-straight
Last Meeting: UK 66, Georgia 56 (2/9/17)
Largest Margin of Victory: Georgia 113, UK 67 (2/23/86)
Largest Defeat: UK 82, Georgia 61 (1/15/17)

Last Time Out

A career-high 18 points from sophomore guard Stephanie Paul led the Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball team to an 81-52 victory against Vanderbilt Thursday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.

Georgia clamped down defensively and forced the Commodores into a season-high 28 turnovers, while the 52 points scored were also a season low for the home team.

The victory improves Georgia's record to 13-2 overall, 1-1 in the SEC and gives the Lady Bulldogs just their second win in Nashville in the last 10 years and their largest margin victory at Memorial Coliseum in school history. Vanderbilt falls to 4-12 this season and 0-2 in league play.

"It is so important to win on the road in this league," head coach Joni Taylor said. "Stephanie (White) has a young team that is going to be really good, so I am proud of our team for the way we came in here, refocused and evened up our SEC record."

Newcomers Making a Difference

Four of Georgia's top six scorers this season are first year players in Athens. Que Morrison (8.5), Taja Cole (8.1) and Gabby Connally (6.6) rank third, fourth and sixth, respectively, among the Lady Bulldogs' scoring leaders. The ninth-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to ESPN.com, has been a welcome addition to this year's roster after Georgia played with just eight scholarship players a season ago.

Quality Wins for Lady Bulldogs

Georgia has five wins against teams that won 20 or more games and made postseason play a year ago, with the Lady Bulldogs' only two losses coming to top-10 squads Texas and Mississippi State. Georgia, which is ranked 39th in the RPI, has quality wins against Virginia, Mercer, BYU, Georgia Tech and Wright State -- all teams that won 20 or more games in 2016-17. During Joni Taylor's tenure, the Lady Bulldogs have recorded six wins against top-25 teams in three seasons.

Strong Non-Conference Performance

Georgia finished with a 12-1 non-conference record for the second time in three years. In all, the Lady Bulldogs own a 33-8 non-conference record under Coach Taylor, a near 80-percent win percentage. This season, Georgia won its non-conference contests by an average margin of 17 points per contest.

Georgia's Offensive Outburst

The Lady Bulldogs pride themselves on defense, but Georgia has also been able to put up a lot of points this season. In fact, this year's team has scored 1,099 points through 15 games, an average of 73.3 points per game, which is the most scored by a Georgia squad since 2007-08, when the team scored 1,149 points through the first 15 contests.

Caldwell Joins Connally and Morrison As Freshman Stars

Freshman guards Gabby Connally and Que Morrison got off to strong starts this season, but they are not the only Lady Bulldog rookies who have been impressive. As of late, it has been the play of guard Maya Caldwell, who has scored in double figures in two of the last five games with 20 against Howard (most for a Georgia freshman since 2014) and 15 against North Florida. Caldwell, who scored all 15 of her points in the second half against UNF, is the team's most efficient 3-point shooter, hitting 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) from behind the arc for the year.

Balanced Bulldogs

Georgia's balanced scoring has helped the team to a fast start this season. Through 15 games, eight or more players have scored in 13 contests. The Lady Bulldogs, which played with just eight scholarship players last season, have been aided by newcomers who make up three of Georgia's top five scorers. Que Morrison leads the 2017 freshman class with 8.5 ppg.

Lady Bulldogs Bench Shines

Georgia's bench play has been impressive this season. The Lady Bulldogs' bench players have outscored their opponents, 421-221, in the first 15 games, an average of almost 15 points per contest. During Georgia's outing against Howard on Dec. 19, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Bison 54-14 and outmatched North Florida's bench 40-5 on Dec. 28. In the outing against Vanderbilt on Jan. 4, Georgia's bench held a 41-15 edge.

Freshmen Combine for Points Barrage

During Georgia's outing against Howard on Dec. 19, Lady Bulldog freshmen combined for 47 total points, led by a new career-high of 20 points from Maya Caldwell and 11 from Malury Bates. You have to go back to 2009 to find the last time a Georgia freshman class combined for that many points in a single game. That year it was Jasmine James (24), Anne-Marie Armstrong (14), Ebony Jones (6) and Jasmine Hassell (5) who combined to score 49 points in a December matchup against Southern Miss.

Georgia Beats Tech for 35th Time

The Lady Bulldogs won their sixth game in the last seven contests against Georgia Tech with a 60-53 win on Dec. 17. The victory, which improved Georgia's record to 16-0 against Tech in Athens and 35-5 overall, also gave the Lady Bulldogs a crucial win against a team with a top-40 RPI. Georgia now has five victories -- Virginia, Mercer, BYU, Georgia Tech and Wright State -- against teams that won 20 or more games last season.

7-0 Start Best In Joni Taylor Era

The Lady Bulldogs, which currently sit at 13-2 this season, jumped out to a 7-0 record to begin the year, marking the best start in the Joni Taylor era. In Taylor's first season, her team started 12-1 in non-conference play en route to a NCAA Tournament appearance and 21-10 final record.

It Starts With Defense Under Taylor

Georgia prides itself on defense, and that has paid off this season. The Lady Bulldogs have held two opponents (BYU and Furman) to their season lows in scoring and four to their season lows in field goal percentage (BYU, Furman, Georgia Tech and Howard). BYU shot a season-low 35.1 percent from the field, while Furman hit just 27.3 percent and Georgia Tech shot at a 29.7 percent clip. In all, the Lady Bulldogs are 19-0 under Coach Taylor when holding an opponent to 50 points or less and are 11-0 when an opponent shoots less than 40 percent this season.

Georgia's Clark Already A College Graduate

A three-time selection to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Haley Clark graduated in just three years and received her diploma from UGA during graduation ceremonies this past May. Clark received her bachelor's degree in business and finance and is pursuing a master's in financial planning. One of her career goals is to work in corporate finance and help other athletes with financial planning.

Clark, Engram Earn Leadership Awards

Haley Clark and Mackenzie Engram enter their senior seasons as the leaders for the Lady Bulldogs. That leadership ability did not go unnoticed by the UGA Athletic Association this past spring, as both Clark and Engram received awards recognizing their efforts in leadership and sportsmanship. The announcement was made at the annual student-athlete awards banquet in April.

Clark received the UGA Athletics Sportsmanship-Ethics Award, which is given annually to one female and male student-athlete who are selected based upon their displays of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, friendship, caring and citizenship. Engram was chosen for the Clifford Lewis Leadership Award - an honor presented to one female student-athlete who demonstrates a commitment to a group of individuals above personal gain.

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