Lady Dawgs Win
By Danny Bishop
BASKETBALL
Jasmine James scored 21 points and dished out seven assists to propel the 18th-ranked Georgia women’s basketball team to an 84-51 victory over Indiana Sunday afternoon inside Stegeman Coliseum. The Lady Dawgs jump to 3-0 to start the 2010-11 season.
James and the supporting cast of Anne Marie Armstrong (15) and Jasmine Hassell (10) helped Georgia to 50 percent shooting from the floor on the afternoon. Indiana (2-2) was led by Hope Elam with 16 points off the bench while Whitney Lindsay tallied 13 and Jori Davis 10.
“Today was just really inspired play on both ends of the floor,” said head coach Andy Landers, who today coached his 1,001st game at the helm of the Lady Dawgs. “We prepared well and were on point with the things we wanted to do. Offensively, we were creative off the rebound as we ran the ball down the floor. In the half court we created shots for each other and for ourselves, and a lot of that came from Jasmine James.”
James tallied 18 of her game-best 21 in the first half to send Georgia into the locker room guarding a 44-25 lead. Armstrong had nine at the intermission on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
Georgia took control of the game immediately, building a double-digit lead just six minutes in, 15-5, on a lay-up for James following a steal for the sophomore guard. The UGA lead ballooned to 15, at 26-11, when Armstrong knocked down one of her threes and Georgia forced Indiana into several first-half turnovers to continue to build.
James hit a pair of free throws to push the Lady Dawgs in front by 17, 33-16, with 4:59 to go in the opener and Georgia netted the final two buckets of the half to take the 19-point lead into the break.
The Lady Dawgs continued rolling in the second, scoring the first seven of the half to take a 26-point lead, 51-25, with 16:44 to go on a three from Porsha Phillips. Following a free throw from the Hoosiers’ Alisha Goodwin, Georgia increased the lead to 29 with 10:20 left and still led by that margin, 66-37, with 6:07 to go.
Georgia eclipsed the 80-point mark for the first time this season as Arieal Johnson hit a lay-up with 1:39 to go, giving the Lady Dawgs the 80-45 lead. Armstrong put Georgia up by its largest margin of the day of 36, at 84-48, with under a minute to go and Davis hit the game’s final bucket for the visitors, a long-ranger, to make it a 33-point game at the buzzer.
Georgia led 44-28 on the boards, led by seven each for Phillips and Meredith Mitchell.
Sunday’s game had some bragging rights at stake for these teams, as the younger sister of Georgia assistant coach Cameron Newbauer, Andrea, suited up for IU. The freshman played 11 minutes, picking up two points and three rebounds.
The Georgia squad will now hit the road for three in a row away from Athens, beginning Tues., Nov. 23 at Southern California. Tip-off vs. the Trojans is set for 10 p.m. ET in Los Angeles. From there, the Lady Dawgs will participate in the LMU Thanksgiving Classic also in Los Angeles, Nov. 26-27.
Notes:
• The Lady Dawgs improved to 3-0 with today’s win over Indiana.
• The Lady Dawgs are now 3-0 all-time against Indiana.
• With today’s win the Lady Dawgs are 10 wins shy of 800 all-time victories.
• With today’s win Andy Landers is 15 wins shy of his 850th career victory as a collegiate head coach.
• Georgia’s previous two meetings with Indiana came during the 1983 and 1995 NCAA Tournaments where the Lady Dawgs eventually advanced to the Final Four.
• Today marks Jasmine James’ fourth 20-point game at Georgia.
• With two blocks in today’s game, Porsha Phillips is now five blocks away from No. 10 Kara Braxton among UGA’s career leaders.
Double-Digit Lady Bulldogs
• Today’s game marks Jasmine James’ second double-digit points game this season and 19th of her career.
• Today’s game marks Jasmine Hassell’s second double-digit points game this season and ninth of her career.
• Today’s game marks Anne Marie Armstrong’s first double-digit points game this season and seventh of her career.
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers
“Today was just really inspired play on both ends of the floor. We prepared well and were on point with the things we wanted to do. Offensively, we were creative off the rebound as we ran the ball down the floor and in the half court we created shots for each other and for ourselves, and a lot of that came from Jasmine James.”
“The key for Southern Cal is to manage it and to understand what we are going into. We started talking to the players yesterday about it. We will go light tomorrow in practice so we’ll have energy and get rested up.”
Indiana Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack
“I was really excited about watching the Georgia players. I liked the fact that they really played hard. I liked the fact that they didn’t quit. They really competed. We got star struck at the beginning but hopefully we learned a lot from this game and that will help us get better for the next game.”
“I like that there were some good things that came out of our guard play. Our post work had some good moves, but we only have two big players. We needed some more help. They kept keeping four or five people at us. They could go to their bench, but we didn’t have anyone to sub. I can’t wait for 2011 to get here so we have some more help.”
“This is the type of game that will help us get ready for March.”