Auburn – 67, Georgia – 53. With apologies to Professor Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady : “The pain of ‘no SEC gain’ falls mainly on The Plains.” And you know what’s the worst part? Ole Miss and Mississippi State both lost today. Today was the day for the Lady Bulldogs to make a move in the SEC standings. Well, technically they did make a move…it was just in the wrong direction. With all but three SEC teams having a .500 or better record in conference play, this could be a season that sees two or three teams with excellent records in league play having to take part in the SEC Tournament’s opening round. The battle for those four precious first-round Tournament byes will probably go down to the last weekend of regular season play. Georgia certainly does not want to be one of those teams left out in the cold and forced to run a brutal four-day gauntlet of Tournament play. By the way, none of this is meant to imply that the SEC regular season title is out of reach. It’s been a crazy season. Tennessee has escaped losses to Florida and South Carolina (today) by the skin of their Cheeto-orange teeth…so anything can still happen. The Lady Dawgs just need to take care of their business and win games. Simple as that. Do that and all the potential championships and tournament byes fall into place.

Between bus tripping and ESPNU watching, all of you probably know the particulars about today’s Auburn game. If not, just click the link to the official game recap below. Personally, I think it all stems from the team’s poor shooting. It looks like the frustration on offense is starting to bleed over into defense, rebounding, and running the floor. All of that stuff is a lot more fun to do when you’re protecting and/or building a lead. Ash missed another long stretch of action with her ankle problem. Here’s hoping that no major medical procedure is required and that “A-Train,” our coach on the floor, will be ready to go next Thursday against LSU.

We’ll have a Georgia/LSU preview posted right here sometime during the day on Wednesday. Don’t forget to check back here tomorrow (Monday) for the latest AP poll. It’s probably not going to be great news…but there’s still plenty of season left for the Lady Dawgs to claw their way back up the ladder. Keep the faith, Fastbreakers…

Remember, we want to post your Auburn bus trip pictures! Send them to m.holcomb@charter.net in .JPEG/.JPG format, please. We’ll post them here, give you credit for shooting them…and we’ll by-gosh make you sorta, kinda, semi-famous…in a way.

Click here for the official Georgia/Auburn recap and a link to the stats and box score.

Fastbreakers who are accustomed to taking the Fastbreak Express bus trip to Auburn and practically having the arena to themselves might be in for a bit of a shock tomorrow. There may be actual Auburn fans in attendance. Yes, the Lady Bulldogs are once again somebody’s “Pack The House” opponent. In all seriousness, Coach Nell Fortner has done a great job getting that Auburn program back on track and they deserve big crowds…especially for a nationally televised game. But the gauntlet has been thrown down for all you Fastbreakers who will be in attendance on The Plains tomorrow. It is your sacred duty to hoot, holler, carry on, and just basically do whatever it takes to give our Lady Dawgs a little boost that might put some extra spring in their step. If you’ve been on one of these Fastbreak Club bus trips before, you know that Andy and the team absolutely take note of the Club’s presence and they appreciate the above-and-beyond support of everyone who sets aside a whole day to cheer them on.

Obviously, this is a big game. Auburn may only be 11-10 this season (and a shocking 2-6 in SEC play), but this is a team that has knocked off LSU in Baton Rouge and they always lace their sneakers up extra tight when Georgia comes to down. The Tigers own an 8-7 edge over the Lady Bulldogs in Eaves-Beard Coliseum, including winning three of the last four border war showdowns. We all know what’s going on with the Lady Dawgs…after a record-breaking 16-0 start, Georgia has lost three of their last five games. They’re coming off back-to-back losses to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. January is about to give way to February. That means it’s home stretch time. It’s time to start thinking about SEC title hopes, first-round SEC Tournament byes, and earning a favorable seed in The Big Dance. It’s time to start winning again.

Georgia and Auburn go at it at 6:00 PM (Eastern) tomorrow evening at Beard-Eaves Coliseum…located on-campus at Auburn. If you’re not taking the Fastbreak Express bus to the game or road-tripping it yourself, the game can be seen live on ESPNU (check your local cable/satellite guide for channel number). No TV? No problem. You can also listen to all the action on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a game recap and web links posted right here sometime before bedtime tomorrow night.

A REQUEST: If you’re part of the Fastbreak Express bus trip tomorrow, we’d love to post some of your pictures here. Game pictures are, of course, always welcome…but it would be great to have a visual record here of the whole bus trip experience: Boarding the bus, pictures from the road, at the restaurant…that kind of stuff. We’ve got a lot of great-looking Fastbreakers, so let’s see your faces! If you’d like your Auburn bus trip photos posted here, just send them to m.holcomb@charter.net (in .JPEG/.JPG format, please).

Have a great trip and bring home a big “W”!

Click here for the official Georgia/Auburn game notes.

Here’s a link to the official Auburn women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire Tiger roster.

Our unofficial and intrepid Fastbreak Club field reporter Brenda Rawson made the trip to Starkville for last night’s game with Mississippi State. As always, she had her camera handy and was (once again) kind enough to send along a baker’s dozen photos from the game. Thanks, Brenda!

“Chalk Talk” scouting sessions will not be held in the home team tunnel area as originally reported. Instead, pre-game “Chalk Talk” will take place in the meeting room behind the big scoreboard in Stegeman Coliseum. Once again: Pre-game “Chalk Talk” scouting sessions will be held 50 minutes before each designated game’s tip-off time in the meeting room behind the big scoreboard in Stegeman Coliseum. We apologize for the earlier report with the different location…and we look forward to seeing you all at “Chalk Talk.”

Click here for the Fastbreak Club “Chalk Talk” schedule.

Mississippi State – 74, Georgia – 68. First things first. The Lady Bulldogs are not “reeling.” They aren’t “falling back to earth,” nor are they “mired in a slump.” Contrary to what the women’s basketball talking heads on ESPN or on the internet might say, despite having ignored Georgia for the first two-and-a-half months of the season, these two consecutive losses to both Mississippi teams haven’t exposed any heretofore unknown weaknesses. This is not last year, when the team endured a long mid-season SEC losing streak and their frustration was evident for all to see. This year’s edition of the Lady Bulldogs has enough pieces in place to do what they did in the first 16 games on a consistent basis. Once they deal with their obvious issues, like taking care of the ball and free throw shooting, they’ll start winning again. It could happen as soon as this Sunday in Auburn (in front of a busload of Fastbreakers). Again, nobody should be reaching for the panic button.

All that said, it sure would’ve been nice to close the deal on that comeback last night in Starkville. The best way to dig yourself out of a 15-point deficit hole is to not put yourself in that hole to begin with. Still, the Lady Dawgs mounted a mini-comeback in the game’s final three minutes that was heartening to watch. They didn’t fold the tent and look for a soft place to fall. Meredith led the way with 16 points, Angel added a dozen points, and Porsha went double-double with 11 points and the same number of rebounds. Ash missed the last few minutes of the game with a bum ankle…we’ll have an update on her condition right here as soon as information becomes available. For what it’s worth, there didn’t seem to be an visible sense of urgency among the training staff as Ash rested on the bench. Here’s hoping she just needed to cool her jets for a little while.

Finally…this is, of course, a Georgia Lady Bulldogs-oriented blog…but it would be unsporting to not give a shout-out to Mississippi State’s Alexis Rack. She had 34 points, highlighted by a blistering 7-of-10 shooting night from beyond the three-point arc. It was one of the finest performances by an opposing player in many years.

Next up for the Lady Bulldogs: Sunday evening on The Plains for a nationally televised (ESPNU) game with Auburn. If you’re going to the game on the Fastbreak Express bus, your job just got a little more important. Make some racket and let our Lady Dawgs know we’ve got their backs. We’ll have a Georgia/Auburn preview posted here sometime during the day tomorrow.

Click here for the official Georgia/Mississippi State game recap and a link to the stats and box score.

When the Lady Bulldogs return from the road next week, Fastbreakers at home games will once again have the opportunity to huddle with a member of the coaching staff prior to tip-off and get an insider’s “heads-up” on our SEC rivals. “Chalk Talk” is back! The pre-game “Chalk Talk” scouting sessions will be held in the meeting room behind the big scoreboard, 50 minutes before the tip-off of each designated home game. Here’s the “Chalk Talk” schedule for the remainder of the season:

February 7 – vs. South Carolina

February 14 – vs. Alabama

February 28 – vs. Arkansas

A couple of important notes: Please note that there will be no “Chalk Talk” for the LSU game on February 4 and that you must be a Fastbreak Club member in order to attend “Chalk Talk.”

While there’s still been no official update on the injury to Angel Robinson (pictured) posted on the team’s website, Coach Landers is quoted in today’s Athens Banner-Herald declaring Angel “probable” for tomorrow night’s game at Mississippi State. As you all recall, Angel had to be assisted off the floor late in the first half of Sunday’s game with Ole Miss after an apparent left foot/ankle injury. She didn’t play at all in the second half. Here’s what Andy had to say about Angel’s status for tomorrow night: “There wasn’t any swelling so she’s in good shape. Everybody reacts differently to those things. She’s gone through so much that you just had to wait and see once the trainer had dealt with her to see the severity. But she’s probable.”

(Angel photo courtesy of Fastbreaker Bill Zachmann.)

Click here to read the entire Athens Banner-Herald article.

If you gave the Lady Bulldogs a choice of where they’d like to get back on the winning track following an excruciating loss, Starkville would be somewhere near the bottom of the list. While the Lady Dawgs own a 23-10 edge in the overall “Battle of the Lady Bulldogs” series versus Mississippi State, they are only 9-6 in games played in “Starkvegas.” Those 15 games include some especially demoralizing losses…including a memorable Super Bowl Sunday debacle from several years back. Of course…where there’s a challenge, there’s also opportunity. “Statement games” are a dime a dozen (and they usually aren’t referred to as a “statement game” until after the team making the alleged “statement” has won), but a bounce-back win over a tough State team that has already defeated Vanderbilt twice this season would go a long way toward righting the Lady Bulldog ship.

It’ll be a later night than usual for the Lady Bulldog Nation as tomorrow night’s Georgia/Mississippi State game is set for a 9:00 PM (Eastern) tip-off. Fox Sports Net will be broadcasting the game live (check your local cable/satellite guides for the channel number) and, as always, you can listen to our own J.D. and Maria calling all the action on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. Depending on how long your humble Fastbreak Club blogger can keep his eyes open, we’ll have a game recap and web links posted right here either late tomorrow night or sometime Friday morning.

Click here for the official Georgia/Mississippi State game notes.

Here’s a link to the official Mississippi State women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire “other” Lady Bulldog roster.

Maybe next season, the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll could come out before the AP poll and we’d just see who’s following who’s lead. (Just kidding…your official Fastbreak Club blog fully realizes that coaches are very busy people and if they “crib” a little from the AP poll, good on them. Their time is probably better spent running practices and doing game prep.) But, as usual, there’s not much variation between the two polls this week. Connecticut, who beat the ever-loving snot out of Rutgers tonight, is still your unanimous number-one and the Lady Bulldogs check in at number-nine…down a spot from last week. Here’s this week’s ESPN/USA Today coaches poll top five and Georgia’s ranking:

1. Connecticut

2. Stanford

3. Notre Dame

4. Nebraska

5. Tennessee

9. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire ESPN/USA Today top 25.

J.J. must be thinking, “Maybe they just got the last name wrong…”

This just in from the UGA Sports Communications Office:

ATHENS, GA. — Georgia’s Jasmine Hassell (pictured) was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for women’s basketball on Monday by the league office in Birmingham, AL.

Hassell, a 6-2, forward from Lebanon, TN, averaged 11.5 points by connecting on 63.6 percent of her shots from the floor and 100 percent of her free throw attempts in games against Tennessee and Ole Miss last week.

Hassell scored on an old-fashioned three-point play and notched a block in just three minutes of playing time in the Lady Bulldogs’ victory over No. 3 Tennessee last Thursday.

On Sunday, Hassell posted career-highs of 20 points, seven rebounds and 30 minutes against Ole Miss. She played the entire second half after starter Angel Robinson suffered an injury.

Hassell entered the week shooting just 59.6 percent from the line but connected on all nine free throws attempted against the Lady Volunteers and the Lady Rebels.

This marks the fifth time during the 2009-10 season that a Georgia Lady Bulldog has been named SEC Freshman of the Week. Previously, guard Jasmine James was tabbed as such on Nov. 16, Nov. 30, Dec. 21 and Jan. 11. All told, six different Georgia players have combined to secure SEC Freshman of the Week honors 14 times since the award was introduced in 2006-07.

(Jasmine photo courtesy of Fastbreaker Bill Zachmann.)