Georgia Lady Bulldogs Can Separate From SEC Pack Against Texas A&M

The Texas A&M Lady Aggies visit the Stegeman Coliseum Thursday night at 7:00, bringing with them a key opportunity for the Lady Bulldogs.

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The Georgia Lady Bulldogs will host Texas A&M Thursday night seeking Georgia’s first women’s basketball victory ever over the Lady Aggies. Thursday would be a good time for a victory with A&M a half game ahead of Georgia and three other fourth place SEC teams.

The fourth place logjam should begin working itself out soon. Also on Thursday, fourth place LSU must face undefeated first place Tennessee and fourth place Mississippi State and Ole Miss will face each other.

The Lady Dawgs home game with Texas A&M presents an opportunity to begin separating from the pack. The opportunity cannot be squandered as in the final 10 games, Georgia only faces three teams scrambling to avoid the SEC cellar while facing league leading and undefeated Tennessee twice and South Carolina once.

This season has been a special one. Coach Andy Landers claimed career Georgia win 850 making him just the seventh college hoops coach – men’s or women’s – with 850 wins at one D-I school. The Georgia basketball program is only four wins from 900 program wins. But if this season is to be truly memorable, the Lady Bulldogs have work to do in the next six weeks.

Against Texas A&M and for the rest of the season, Georgia will rely on Shacobia Barbee and Erika Ford for offense. Barbee is 145 points from 1,000 career points and Ford is 213 points from 1,000 career points. Otherwise, Georgia will lean on its stifling defense, ranked five nationally in total defense, 35 in field goal percentage defense, 22 in 3-point field goal defense, and ranked 17 in steals per game.

Mar 6, 2014; Duluth, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs head coach Andy Landers reacts to a call in the first half against Vanderbilt at The Arena at Gwinnett Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Lady Bulldog defense will be tested by an Aggie offense that ranks 38 nationally in field goal percentage An even more compelling challenge for Georgia will be the Aggie defense, which itself ranks eighth nationally in field goal percentage defense.

The Aggies sport three top five SEC statistical leaders. Guard Tiffany Mitchell scores 15.2 points per game, fifth in the SEC, forward Achiri Ade claims 10.5 rebounds per game, fourth in the SEC, and guard Jordan Jones makes 6.8 assists per game, first in the SEC.

Tip Off is 7:00 PM Thursday evening and the game will air on SECN+. Radio coverage will be over the air from AM960 the Ref in Athens and 103.7 FM from Gainesville. Audio streaming is available at http://www.georgiadogs.com/collegesportslive/ and video streaming SEC Network +.

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