The Georgia Lady Bulldogs used defense and free throws to defeat Texas A&M in a key SEC game in the Stegeman Coliseum.
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With Georgia leading by one and nine seconds showing in the second half, the Lady Bulldogs’ Marjorie Butler made two free throws to seal the Bulldogs first victory ever over Texas A&M.
In so doing, Butler lifted the Dawgs to 5-2 in the SEC to take over the spot behind undefeated Tennessee and South Carolina in the SEC standings. This is a crucial win with the Lady Bulldogs facing both South Carolina and Tennessee in the next week.
Texas A&M held Georgia’s leading scorer Shacobia Barbee to five points, but the Bulldogs held the Texas A&M offense to 51 points and stole away with 54 – 51 victory.
Georgia shot only 36% from the field for the game to A&Ms 43%. But the Dawgs shot 72% on 18 free throw tries while the Lady Aggies only shot two free throws, making one. The Aggies never enjoyed the bonus situation despite a tough Bulldog defense that won the battle with the A&M offense, holding A&M to Georgia’s defensive average, 14 points below the A&M scoring average.
The Lady Bulldogs also claimed 14 offensive rebounds to A&M’s nine.
Mackenzie Engram had her sixth double-digit scoring output in tonight's 54-51 win over No. 10 Texas A&M! #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/WLDpVtdHQb
— Georgia Bulldogs (@UGAAthletics) January 23, 2015
Georgia split the points evenly between the two halves, scoring 27 in each stanza. Mackenzie Ingram led the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points and seven rebounds. Butler scored 11 and Merritt Hempe pulled in eight rebounds. The Dawgs led nearly the whole way but fought off a second half challenge from the stubborn Aggies. The game was a one-possession game the last three and half minutes.