Georgia Lady Bulldogs down Ohio State on Road
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs won their first road contest of the year, taking down the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Tiaria Griffin’s 16 points led Georgia to a 67-59 victory over Ohio State Wednesday night at Value City Arena. Shacobia Barbee added 13 points while Krista Donald and Mackenzie Engram each scored 12 points.
Freshman Kelsey Mitchell paced Ohio State with 26 points.
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“This is a heckuva win for this team because this team still has a long way to go,”
told
. “We stayed the course defensively when I’m sure we were frustrated offensively. We stayed the course for 40 minutes defensively and we rebounded and when we needed to, we made plays and made shots and made free throws.”
Ohio State’s 13 3-point field goals and 39 shots from behind the arc were both the most ever against Georgia
Georgia trailed by nine points twice in the second half, the final time 44-35 with 12:16 remaining. The Lady Bulldogs closed the gap with an 8-0 run before a Cait Craft’s three put the Buckeyes back up by four.
Ohio State regained a 45-40 edge before another Georgia surge, this time a 10-0 run, flipped the five-point deficit into a five-point lead. Engram opened the scoring with a layup, followed by a short jumper from Merritt Hempe, a 3-pointer from Griffin and 3-of-4 free throws from Engram.
After Craft hit another 3-pointer, Donald scored on a nifty layup and Engram canned a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:39 remaining to put Georgia up 60-53.
All of Engram’s points came in the second half. Making the performance even more meaningful were the 20 family and friends in attendance. Engram’s mother, Michelle Zelina, is an Ohio State alum.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with four ties and six lead changes. With the Lady Bulldogs missing their final seven shots of the half, the Buckeyes rallied to score 10 straight and gain a 28-24 advantage at the intermission.
While the Buckeyes shot 33.3% on 39 three-point attempts, Georgia won the game at the foul line, shooting 73% for the game on 15 attempts while Ohio State went to the line only 6 times, making 4.
Georgia’s starters, Barbee (63rd career start), Hempe (38th career start), Donald (36th career start), Griffin (26th career start) and Marjorie Butler (eighth career start) have started all three games this season.
Georgia returns to action on Sunday to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta at 2 p.m. That contest will be available via espn3.com.
Georgia will host a pair of home games next week. The Lady Bulldogs will take on Georgia Southern on Tuesday before hosting Colgate on Wednesday. Both contests will tip at 7 p.m.