Georgia Lady Bulldogs Must Stop the Bleeding in Baton Rouge vs. LSU
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs must right the ship tonight against an LSU team that is finding itself.
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A Georgia Lady Bulldog season that began with great promise is quickly unraveling. There is still time to control the damage and the Dawgs will try to do so in Baton Rouge Thursday night in another tough SEC match up.
Georgia must end the ninth five-game losing streak in the program’s history and just its second since 1979 tonight in the at the Maravich Assembly Center against LSU. Jump ball is at 8 p.m.
Georgia’s problems began with the loss of Shacobia Barbee – and her 11.6 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game averages – to a season-ending injury at Tennessee on Jan. 25. The Lady Bulldogs upset tenth ranked Texas A&M on Jan. 22. After losing Barbee, Georgia dropped single-digit road games at fifth ranked Tennessee and tenth ranked Kentucky, suffered its first home loss of the year to number one South Carolina and fell to Arkansas and Florida in matchups that decided in the last 10 seconds.
Georgia is currently 17-8 overall and 5-7 in SEC action. That’s a long way from the 17-3 and 5-2 marks the Dawgs posted before losing Barbee.
Tiaria Griffin is the Lady Bulldogs’ active scoring leader at 11.3 points per game. Krista Donald is UGA’s top active rebounder at 6.7 rebounds per game. Barbee fractured her right distal fibula while coming down from a drive to the basket late in the first half. She had surgery Jan. 28 to repair the fracture.
All told, eight different Lady Bulldogs – Barbee, Marjorie Butler, Donald, Mackenzie Engram, Erika Ford, Griffin, Merritt Hempe and Pachis Roberts – have combined to score in double figures 59 times for Georgia during the 2014-15 campaign.
LSU is 14-10 overall and 8-4 in the SEC. The Lady Tigers and Georgia are two cars passing in opposite direction on the SEC freeway, with LSU surging on the return of Danielle Ballard, who was suspended for the first 14 games of the year.
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers assessed the Tigers for Georgiadogs.com. “All of their guards have the ability to break you down with the bounce, all are good are good at getting it to the rim and pulling it up off the drive and they have very capable 3-point shooters.”
The Lady Tigers were just 7-7 before welcoming Ballard back. Since then, LSU is 7-3 with victories over No. 15 Mississippi State and No. 10 Kentucky.
Ballard paces LSU on the offensive end at 14.0 points per game, while Raigyne Moncrief and DeShawn Harden chip in 11.3 points per game and 10.1 points per game, respectively. The Lady Tigers feature a balance attack on the boards, with Sheila Boykin averaging a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game and Ballard and Moncrieff both contributing 6.8 rebounds per game.
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