Georgia Lady Dawgs Set For Early Season Showdown
The storied Georgia Lady Dawgs basketball program face their first test of the season on the road in East Lansing, Michigan.
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Last season’s Lady Bulldogs’ team was set to make another run at an NCAA Tournament and perhaps a Final Four appearance until injuries set the squad back.
After starting 12-0 and breaking into the top 10, the Lady Dawgs were flying high. They stretched their mark to 17-3 (5-2 SEC) by late January gearing up for a bout with national power Tennessee in Knoxville.
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What happened in Knoxville changed the course of the entire season. After losing one of their team leaders Shacobia Barbee for the rest of the year in the first half, the Dawgs never recuperated and lost 59-51. Thus started a stretch of eight straight losses and a 2-9 finish to the regular season.
Starting forward Merritt Hempe also missed time late in the season. These two injuries played a huge roll in the trajectory of last year’s season.
In the off-season, legendary head coach Andy Landers stepped down after 36 years at the helm. He turned the program over to Joni Taylor who has coached alongside Landers as an assistant for the last four seasons.
Optimism for the 2015-2016 campaign is at an all-time high for a program that has three Final Four berths, four SEC tournament titles and has only missed the NCAA tournament three times since 1983.
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Back this season are a slew of upperclassmen including seniors Barbee, Hempe, Terryuana Godwin, Tiaria Griffin and Majorie Butler. They also added local talent in freshmen Amber Skidgel from nearby Archer High School and Caliya Robinson out of McEachern High School in the Atlanta-area.
The Lady Dawgs got off to a hot start this season by downing Stetson 76-55 at Stegeman Coliseum on November 15th. The win was the program’s 900th all-time and the first in the head coaching career for Taylor.
Barbee proved how happy she was to be back on the court by contributing a triple-double (10 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists), while Griffin led the team with 21 points. Hempe returned to last season’s form adding 16 points of her own, and sophomore Mackenzie Engram totaled an 18-point, 11 rebound performance to notch her second career double-double.
Next up, the Lady Bulldogs travel to Michigan State Wednesday night to take on the 23rd ranked Spartans in an early season SEC-Big 10 showdown. Sparty is coming off a similar 2014-2015 season, finishing at 16-15 and failing to reach the postseason. But, in terms of roster, they are extremely different than Georgia.
MSU comes into the season with six freshman and four sophomores on a team that displays 15 players. They do, however, have two graduate students on their team so experience is not completely lacking.
Tonight’s tip is set for 7:30 PM EST, and this will give Dawgs’ fans a glimpse into how ready the Lady Bulldogs are to compete with a top 25 team. Look for strong leadership from Butler at the guard position, and a great deal of opportunities for Barbee and Hempe down low.