Lady Dawgs Win
By Danny Bishop
BASKETBALL
Anne Marie Armstrong canned a 25-foot three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to lift the Georgia Lady Dawgs (9-2) to a 60-57 victory over TCU (6-6) at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Wednesday night.
The Lady Dawgs outscored the Horned Frogs 7-0 over the final 1:06 to earn the victory over TCU, an NCAA Tournament team during nine of the past 10 seasons.
“It’s a good win,” Andy Landers said. “It was a win we needed. We needed a solid road win.
“I thought we played pretty well 80 percent of the time,” Landers continued. “The other 20 percent we were in breakdown mode. Ten percent of that time, we scrambled and did a good job of saving ourselves. The other 10 percent, we were giving away points.”
Porsha Phillips’ game-high tallies of 18 points and 14 rebounds led Georgia, her sixth double-double of the season. Armstrong added 15 points and Jasmine James chipped in 12.
“I thought Porsha was tremendous all night,” Landers said. “She played with a lot of heart. She looked tired. Actually, we played our kids more minutes tonight than we have all season, and I think that showed a little bit.”
Georgia controlled the scoreboard for most of the contest.
The Lady Dawgs built a 16-point first-half lead but allowed TCU to close within single digits at the intermission. After the Horned Frogs closed the gap to four early in the second stanza, Georgia pushed its advantage pack to nine with 12:21 remaining.
A Phillips jumper made it 46-37 at the 10:28 mark; however, TCU outscored the Lady Bulldogs 12-0 over the next 6:27 to gain a five-point lead with 5:09 remaining.
Armstrong broke Georgia’s scoring drought with a layup with 4:00 remaining and knocked down a three on the next possession to trim the margin back to two.
The teams each made four straight free throws – all of Georgia’s from Jasmine Hassell – to make it 57-55 with 1:06 left. A James steal turned into an Armstrong layup to knot the score with 50 second left.
Georgia then forced a shot clock violation and regained possession with 15.4 seconds left. James brought the ball down and passed to Meredith Mitchell on the baseline. She hit Phillips just outside the lane who passed back to Armstrong for the game-winner.
After missing their first five shots of the game, including four three-point attempts, Phillips finally got the Lady Dawgs on the board with a triple from the left corner on an inbounds. That bucket ignited a 12-5 over the next 12-5 run that put Georgia up 12-7 at the 16:08 mark.
The Lady Dawgs gradually expanded that margin and used a 10-0 surge in a span of 3:18 to go up 35-19 with 3:32 remaining in the half.
TCU cut that lead to single digits at the break, using a quartet of free throws on one-and-one opportunities for Helena Sverrisdottir at the final 40 seconds of the half.
The Lady Dawgs will return to action next Wednesday when they face Louisiana Tech in the opening round of the FIU Fun & Sun Classic in Miami at 8 p.m. Georgia will then face either FIU or Marquette on Dec. 30 at 2 or 4 p.m.
Georgia will then open Southeastern Conference play on Sunday, January 2 when the Lady Dawgs host South Carolina at 2 p.m. at Stegeman Coliseum. The first 1,000 kids (8th grade and below) in attendance will receive University of Georgia silly bands.
Reserved seat tickets for the Lady Dawg games are $5 for adults and $3 for children and will be available via the internet at www.georgiadogs.com. In addition, tickets will go on sale at Stegeman Coliseum box office (side of arena closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 90 minutes before tip-off.
UGA students, faculty and staff are admitted to all Lady Dawg games free of charge with a valid UGA Card. Faculty and staff should pick up tickets at the Coliseum box office. Students are admitted to the arena via the entrance to the left of the box office by showing their UGA Card.