WBB Game Notes: Red Hot Georgia Hosts Red Flash on Sunday

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

#14/17 Georgia Lady Bulldogs (9-1) vs. St. Francis Red Flash (0-9)
Sunday, Dec. 19 | 2 p.m. ET
Athens, Ga. | Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (Jeff Dantzler) 960 AM The Ref, WXKT 103.7 FM | Affiliates
TV: none
Video Stream: SEC Network + (Matt Stewart and Mark Slonaker)
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
History: UGA 1-0 (Full History)
Last Meeting: W, 98-66 (3/15/1996)

Game Promotions

Tacky Sweater Game — Wear your best and brightest Christmas sweater!
First 400 fans receive a free long sleeve Ugly Sweater T-shirt. Promotions staff will pass out coupons at the gates for fans to redeem for a t-shirt.

Opening Tip

Georgia returns home for a pair of games before Christmas break. First up is a matchup against St. Francis at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. The contest will air on SEC Network +. Jeff Dantzler will call the action on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Sunday's game is Georgia's annual Tacky Christmas Sweater matchup, with fans encouraged to wear their favorite Christmas sweaters.
This marks just the second all-time meeting between Georgia and St. Francis. The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Red Flash, 98-66, in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament. Georgia finished national runner-up in its second-straight Final Four appearance.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated No. 2-ranked NC State Thursday evening in Raleigh. It marked Georgia's first win in a true road contest against a top-2 team in program history.
Thursday's triumph marked the Lady Bulldogs' second win against a NET top-15 team. Georgia has victories against No. 3 NC State and No. 14 Notre Dame. The Lady Bulldogs moved up to No. 10 nationally in the latest NET rankings.
Jenna Staiti proved once again why she is one of the best centers in the country. Steady Staiti recorded a double-double of 21 points and 11 boards against Preseason ACC Player of the Year and 2021 All-American Elissa Cunane on Thursday.
Que Morrison and Sarah Ashlee Barker joined Staiti in double figures. Morrison tied a season-high with 20 points to go along with five steals and six rebounds. Barker scored 16 in the win, including a heave at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Georgia ranks fourth nationally in blocked shots, averaging 7.1 per game. The Lady Bulldogs are ninth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage defense, holding teams to just 22 percent shooting from behind the arc.

On A Roll

With its win against NC State on Thursday, Georgia has now won 17 of its last 21 games dating back to last season. During the stretch going back to Feb. 4, 2021, Georgia has defeated five ranked teams, including No. 2 ranked Texas A&M and second-ranked NC State.

Barker's Bomb Shocks NC State

Sarah Ashlee Barker nailed a 25-foot heave at the buzzer to send the game against NC State into overtime. Barker finished with a career-best four 3-point field goals in the win, including back-to-back three's late in the game to stop a NC State rally.

No. 3 Heats up from 3

Barker has drastically improved her shooting from behind the arc throughout the course of the season. In the first four games, she hit just 2-of-14 (.143) from behind the arc, but has knocked in 13-of-32 (.406) over the last six contests.

Que Doing it All

Que Morrison is making a name for herself as arguably the best all-around player in the SEC. Morrison is doing it all. She ranks in the top-5 of the league in assist-turnover ratio (2.7), assists (4.5 per game) and free-throw percentage (82.9 percent) and is sixth in steals (2.4 per game). Morrison has scored 20 points twice this season after doing that just three times in the previous four years.

Overtime Success

Georgia improved to an impressive 9-2 overall in overtime games under head coach Joni Taylor. In fact, Georgia has won four-straight and nine of its last 10 OT contests.

Many Contributors

Georgia's bench has outscored its opponents by a 252-115 margin, an average of 13.7 points per game, this season. Every available player has touched the floor in four of the team's 10 games overall.

Bulldog Block Party

The Lady Bulldogs set a new school record with 18 blocks in the win against Alabama State on Nov. 21. That total broke a 34-year old record from 1987, when Georgia had 16 against Mercer. The Lady Bulldogs' 18 swats are tied for the second-most in a game in SEC history.

Healthy Margins

In addition to leading or being near the top of the SEC in nearly every defensive category, Georgia has allowed just two opponents (Texas Tech and NC State) to hit over 40 percent from the floor. The Lady Bulldogs have also forced 20 or more turnovers five times.

Georgia Inks Elite Signing Class

Georgia's 2022 Signing Class is ranked No. 7 nationally according to ESPN. Janiah Barker and Sydney Bowles, two of the highest rated players in the nation, will join talented point guard product Tineya Hylton in Georgia's incoming class.

Barker – who is considered the No.1-ranked forward nationally and among the top-3 players overall -- is a native of Marietta, Ga. She currently preps at Montverde Academy in Florida. Bowles – a consensus top-10 guard prospect -- is from Lithonia, Ga., and plays at Woodward Academy. They will begin their collegiate careers during the 2022-23 campaign.

Hylton prepped at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tenn., before going back to Canada to play at Royal Crown Academic School in Toronto, Ontario. She will join the Lady Bulldogs this season.

Staiti Moves Into Top-5

Jenna Staiti now ranks fifth in school history with 232 career blocks. Tawana McDonald owns the program record with 297 swats during her time at Georgia. Staiti is also the SEC's active career leader in blocks.

Offensive Improvement

Head Coach Joni Taylor and her staff implemented a new offensive philosophy prior to the 2020-21 season with the goal of playing a more up-tempo style with defensive pressure.

That move has paid dividends. Since last season, Georgia has scored over 90 points four times. The Lady Bulldogs scored over 90 points just four times combined in the five seasons prior.

Exceeding Expectations

Coach Taylor's teams have lived by the mantra 'It's not where you start but where you finish.' In five of her first six seasons, the Lady Bulldogs have finished well ahead of their preseason ranking. The largest jumps came in 2017-18 -- when Georgia was picked eighth and finished second -- and last season -- when the team was picked ninth and finished fourth.

Georgia's SEC Standings Under Joni Taylor

Georgia's SEC Standings Under Joni Taylor
Season	Preseason Rank	SEC Finish
2015-16	9th	6th
2016-17	12th	8th
2017-18	8th	2nd (tied)
2018-19	4th	7th
2019-20	10th	9th
2020-21	9th	4th

Staiti's Streak Continues

Jenna Staiti has become known as 'Steady Staiti' over the last two seasons -- and for good reason.

The Cumming, Ga., native has scored in double figures in 40 of her last 47 games with 16 double-doubles and ten 20-plus point efforts. It is a remarkable stat line for the All-SEC center, especially when you look back to her first two years of college basketball. During her freshman and sophomore campaigns, Staiti averaged 4.4 ppg and 1.7 rpg in 65 total games played.

Defense Travels

Georgia has become one of the top defensive teams in the SEC during Coach Taylor's tenure. In her six seasons leading the program, the Lady Bulldogs have finished either first or second in the conference in scoring defense on three occasions, including a league-best and school record 54.1 ppg in 2015-16. Last year, Georgia ranked second in the SEC, holding opponents to 60.5 ppg. The team also finished top-5 in most defensive categories, including field-goal percentage defense, 3-point field-goal percentage defense and turnovers forced.

Not Just Defense For Morrison

Que Morrison is known as one of the top defenders in the nation as she routinely guards the opponent's top player night-in and night-out. Last year, Morrison led all players in conference play with 33 steals (2.2 per game).

The Riverdale, Ga., native has also stepped it up offensively. She has now scored in double figures in 20 of her last 23 games dating back to last season.

A Healthy Dose of Que

After suffering a string of injuries in her career, Morrison finally experienced a full healthy season for the Lady Bulldogs.

Here is a look back at some of the adversity Morrison has overcome.

The defensive stopper placed on the SEC All-Freshman Team after drawing 32 starts on Georgia's NCAA tournament team. Then, in her sophomore campaign, Morrison missed the first eight games due to a torn meniscus in her left knee. In 2019-20, she had an injury to her foot before the year began. She then suffered a torn labrum in her right shoulder to end her junior campaign midway through SEC play.

Coombs Takes on Leadership Roles

Mikayla Coombs — a native of Buford, Ga. — was selected by her peers to serve as the vice chair of the SEC Women's Basketball Leadership Council. As one of four elected officers, she will participate in various meetings throughout the year to provide feedback to Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and Faculty Athletics Representatives.

This news came after she was chosen as the only student-athlete representative on the NCAA competition committee. Coombs graduated with a degree in sport management from the University of Georgia and is currently pursuing a master's in the same program. She was named a UGA Presidential Scholar in 2020, has placed on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll three times and made the Dean's List in 2021.

Coaching Consistency

Georgia has one of the longest tenured staffs in the SEC. With the return of Karen Lange, Chelsea Newton and Robert Mosley, Georgia is the only team in the conference to not have a single coaching change at any level -- head coach or assistant coach -- over the past six years.

Chapman Sticks with Basketball

Junior guard Chloe Chapman played two seasons with the Georgia soccer team, but after spending two years as a dual-sport athlete, she will now focus on just basketball. The Mitchellville, Md., native was a consensus top-40 prospect and was rated as the No. 8 overall point guard in the nation coming out of high school.

Georgia Freshmen Already Making History

Lady Bulldog freshmen Reigan Richardson and Jillian Hollingshead were both named McDonald's All-Americans, marking the first time in Georgia history the program has signed two McDonald's All-Americans in one class. Hollingshead and Richardson are the 11th and 12th McDonald's All-Americans to sign with the Lady Bulldogs and are the first to commit right out high school since Ronika Ransford in 2010. Current Lady Bulldog Mikayla Coombs was a McDonald's All-American in 2017.

A Storied History

Georgia is one of just two SEC programs (Tennessee) and one of just 16 teams nationwide to reach the 1,000 win total. The Lady Bulldogs accomplished the feat last season on the road at East Carolina, marking the latest impressive accomplishment for the storied program.

The Lady Bulldogs are one of only three teams, joining Wisconsin-Green Bay and Tennessee, to have a winning record every year since 1980 and have been to 34 of 39 NCAA tournaments.

WBB Game Notes: Red Hot Georgia Hosts Red Flash on Sunday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chloe Chapman

Mikayla Coombs

Que Morrison

Jenna Staiti

University of Georgia Athletics

WBB Game Notes: Red Hot Georgia Hosts Red Flash on Sunday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chloe Chapman

Mikayla Coombs

Que Morrison

Jenna Staiti

Related Videos