Georgia Basketball: Lady Bulldogs Down Spartans for Tenth Straight Win
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs are 10-0 for the tenth time in program history.
The No. 19 Georgia Lady Bulldogs upset No. 16 Michigan State 69-60 Sunday afternoon in the Stegeman Coliseum. With the victory, Georgia 10 – 0 is only the 10th time in program history. The Spartans fall to 5-2 on the season.
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Tiaria Griffin led Georgia with 15 points, including three from 3-point range, plus a season high eight rebounds and six assists. Krista Donald added 12 points and grabbed nine boards, while Marjorie Butler tied her career high with 11 points. She also recorded four assists and three rebounds.
“I liked the way we started more than anything,” head coach Andy Landers told Georiadogs.com. “I thought we came out and did what we do. That’s what Georgia does and we talked about that in the dressing room – be confident, go out and do what we do and do it the way that we do it. Don’t be distracted by who they are or what they may be able to do. That’s exactly how we started the game, and it knocked them off balance.”
Midway through the first stanza, Georgia took control of the game on a 17-2 run. After trailing by as much as 23 points, the Spartans used an 8-point run in the final two minutes of the half to narrow the score to 36-21 at the break.
Michigan State opened the second half outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 19-12 in the opening minutes of the second half. With the Spartans down six with 10:41 to play, Griffin sunk a 3-pointer, Erika Ford stole the ball back and Butler hit consecutive jump shots to keep Georgia in front.
The Spartans again drew within six points, but a Butler shot from 3-point range gave Georgia a double-digit lead with less than two minutes to play. The Lady Bulldogs shot a perfect 6-for-6 in the closing minute to seal the Georgia win.
“In the second half, as I said, they got composed and we didn’t get as much productivity off of our bench, got into a little bit of foul trouble and then it became a thing of hitting shots and making free throws,” Landers said.
Georgia scored 17 points-off-turnovers to 10 for Michigan State.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to action to face Furman on Saturday, Dec. 20. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.