Georgia Lady Bulldogs Blow Out Mercer, Remain Unbeaten
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs cruised past Mercer to extend their season opening win streak to nine.
Shacobia Barbee, Mackenzie Engram and Tiaria Griffin each scored 12 points to lead No. 19 Georgia to a 68-49 victory over Mercer (4-3) on Thursday night. Barbee also claimed six steals.
Eleven different Georgia players contributed points for Georgia, which became the first women’s team in the nation to reach the 9-0 mark this season.
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“Defensively, we were good,” Andy Landers told Georgiadogs.com. “We were able to create offense off of defense, but we were also able to execute in the half court, which was good to see because we struggled with that a couple of nights ago. I thought we were good in all phases offensively and defensively. We rebounded the ball well. We ran the floor well. We did a good job with the scouting piece. Everything was solid tonight.”
Georgia used the same starting five for the ninth time in as many games this season: Barbee (69th career start), Griffin (32nd career start), Merritt Hempe (44th career start), Krista Donald (42nd career start), and Marjorie Butler (14th career start).
Barbee opened the scoring with a jumper 57 seconds into the contest and Georgia never trailed. Six different Lady Bulldogs scored in a 15-2 run that gave Georgia a 20-point lead with 2:56 left in the opening half.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to Athens to take on No. 16 Michigan State this Sunday at 4 p.m. The first 750 fans and 250 UGA students in attendance for the matchup with the Spartans will receive a free Lady Bulldog coffee tumbler.
In addition, the Michigan State contest will serve as a “Rally the Dawgs” school challenge day. Elementary schools in Clarke and Oconee counties will compete to see which can bring the most fans to the game. The school with the most fans in attendance will win $1000, second place will win $750 and third place will win $250. At each timeout, a selected elementary student will win various prizes such as an iPad, Xbox, bikes, gift cards and Beats by Dre Pill.