The season is over. And you hate to see it end this way. For the second straight year, the Lady Bulldogs ran into a juggernaut team hitting on all cylinders in the Sweet Sixteen round and were emphatically eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. Give all the due credit and respect to the Aggies. They were simply dominant today. Like last year, you can hit the recap link below for all of the nuts and bolts of today’s game…but us Fastbreakers prefer to look forward. Forward to the next pre-season party…the next game…the next season.

Right now, you can rest assured that nobody involved with Georgia women’s basketball is sitting around reflecting on back-to-back Sweet Sixteens as some great achievement. That’s just not how it works around here. Coach Landers will set you straight in a heartbeat that this program is after Final Fours and, ultimately, a national championship. That said, you look at what’s been accomplished by the Lady Dawgs in the past four years and it becomes clear that things are still trending upward…no matter what went down in Dallas this afternoon. While we’ll miss Porsha next season, players like J.J., Anne Marie, and Jasmine are just hitting their primes. The rookies will have a year of SEC battle under their belts…Khaalidah already displayed the poise of an upper-classman this season. How much better will she be when she actually becomes one? Speaking of upper-classmen, Meredith will be our veteran leader…our “coach on the floor.” With the ice water in her veins, can you think of a better one?

So…eyes forward, Fastbreakers. The NCAA Tournament will continue, a champion will be crowned, we’ll have our annual year-end Awards Banquet, hug each others’ necks, and then we’ll all get on with our non-Lady Bulldog lives for a few months.

Then, before you know it, it all starts up again…

Click here for the official Georgia/Texas A&M recap and a link to the stats and box score.

If you’re not in Dallas this weekend to watch the Lady Bulldogs take on Texas A&M in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, you’re invited to join the Fastbreak Club at Buffalo’s Southwest Cafe in Athens (196 Alps Road) for a game viewing party. The fun starts at 3:30 this Sunday afternoon in the restaurant’s Georgia Room. The room holds about 50 people…so let’s see if we can fill it up. For advance head count purposes, please e-mail Fastbreak Club president Amy Kay at amykay@fcs.uga.edu if you plan to attend. See you there!

One last look back at this past weekend’s NCAA Tournament action in Auburn before setting our sights on Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon. These pics are courtesy of our unofficial Fastbreak Club field reporter/photographer, Brenda Rawson. Thanks, Brenda!

Breathe that sweet breeze in. Nice, huh? That’s the rarified air of the Sweet Sixteen. Georgia didn’t finish the regular season in the top-25…now they are undisputedly one of the last sixteen teams standing. But the hard work’s just getting started. The biggest challenge of the season awaits this Sunday afternoon as the sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs (23-10) take on the Aggies of Texas A&M, the number-two seed in the Dallas Region, for a spot in the Elite Eight. The winner of the Georgia/Texas A&M game will face the winner of Sunday’s second Dallas Regional, Baylor vs. Green Bay (7:00 PM, Eastern) on Tuesday night for a trip the 2011 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Final Four in Indianapolis. That’s how close we are to The Promised Land, Fastbreakers. Two games. Two wins. And, believe it or not, somehow these two storied programs have never met on the court until now. When Georgia and Texas A&M hook up this Sunday afternoon with everything on the line, it’s going to be a whole new world. Who’s ready?

NCAA TOURNAMENT (THIRD ROUND), MARCH 27, 2011

American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas

#6 GEORGIA VS. #2 TEXAS A&M (4:30 PM, Eastern)

TV/Radio/Online: ESPN/Georgia Bulldog Radio Network/ESPN3.com

We’ll have a Georgia/Texas A&M recap and web links posted right here sometime Sunday night. If you’re heading out to “Big D” for the weekend and bringing your camera along, we’d love to post some of your pics for all of us Fastbreakers who’ll be keeping the home fires burning. Just send them to m.holcomb@charter.net (in .JPG/.JPEG format, please) and we’ll put ‘em online. We’ll even give you full credit so everybody can hug your neck at the Awards Banquet. Game photos, shots of other Fastbreakers who made the trip, off-the-court candids…we’d love to share them with the world!

Click here for the official Georgia/Texas A&M game notes.

Here’s a link to the Texas A&M women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire Aggie roster.

Listening to ESPN2′s announcing crew, you might’ve thought that Florida State was the only team on the floor last night at Auburn Arena. At least until Jasmine James soared through the air with the greatest of ease and reminded everybody that Georgia was also in the house. Down but never, ever out…the Lady Bulldogs stormed back from a ten-point second-half deficit to knock off the third-seeded Seminoles on J.J.’s gravity-defying stickback with less than three seconds left on the game clock. Despite ESPN2 analyst LaChina Robinson’s hyperventilating insistence that FSU’s Courtney Ward would sink a game-winning buzzer-beater, the ‘Noles in fact never got a shot off before time expired…and our Lady Bulldogs are on their way to Dallas for a Texas Two-Step in The Big Dance. Once there, they’ll face second-seeded Texas A&M and quite possibly top-seeded Baylor…but then again, everything’s bigger in Texas, including the challenges. However, longtime Fastbreakers remember how the 1995-96 Lady Bulldogs marched into Texas facing long odds and ended up knocking off number-one seeded Louisiana Tech to punch their ticket to the Final Four. It’s March. These things happen.

Anne Marie led the Lady Bulldog scoring attack with 15 points, J.J. scored 14 (including, of course, the three biggest points of the season), Khaalidah added 11 and Meredith also got into double-digits with 10 points. Porsha had a rough night from the field, shooting only 2-of-10…but she still grabbed 10 rebounds. Plus, one of those misses from the field was the in-and-out jumper that J.J. converted into the game-winning basket. So what’s destined to be one of the best-remembered shots in Po’s Georgia career is one that she didn’t even make. I’m sure she doesn’t mind about that at all this morning.

The Lady Dawgs will throw down with Texas A&M this Sunday at 4:30 PM (Eastern) in Dallas. We’ll have a full preview of Georgia’s return to the Sweet Sixteen versus Texas A&M up sometime during the day on Friday. If any of you Fastbreakers who can’t make it out to Dallas plan on hosting viewing parties, drop the website a line here at m.holcomb@charter.net and we’ll help spread the word for you.

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

A detailed post is forthcoming in the morning, but…for now:

GEORGIA – 61, FLORIDA STATE – 59!

Next stop…DALLAS!

Those Florida State Seminoles looked plenty tough this past Sunday afternoon as they smoked Samford by thirty points at The Big Dance in Auburn. But you know what? They have never…ever…beaten the Lady Bulldogs. So if you’re looking for good omens as you get psyched-up for tonight’s second-round NCAA Tournament showdown between the number-three seeded ‘Noles and our sixth-seeded Lady Dawgs, Georgia’s all-time undefeated 7-0 record versus FSU is something you can hang your hat on. A trip to the Sweet Sixteen in Dallas hangs in the balance as the Lady Bulldogs will attempt to shut down FSU power-post Cierra Bravard and pull off an upset in a tournament that has thus far been somewhat surprise-free. So let’s give ESPN’s Kara Lawson and Carolyn Peck something else to talk about other than how smart they are for picking obvious favorites. Nothing wrong with being part of the Thoroughly-Okay Thirty-Two…but let’s get back to that Sweet Sixteen.

NCAA TOURNAMENT (SECOND ROUND), MARCH 22, 2011

Auburn Arena in Auburn, Alabama

#6 GEORGIA VS. #3 FLORIDA STATE (9:35 PM, Eastern)

TV/Radio/Online: ESPN2/Georgia Bulldog Radio Network/ESPN3.com

We’ll have a Georgia/Florida State recap and web links posted right here either  sometime late, late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Your humble official Fastbreak Club website dude will be watching on the tube tonight in Winterville…so if anyone who’ll actually be at the game wants to share some pictures, we’d love to have them. Just send them to m.holcomb@charter.net (in .JPG/.JPEG format, please) and we’ll post them for the whole internet to see. We’ll even give you full credit…so you’ll be kind of a big deal. Thanks!

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

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

Click here to see the entire Seminole roster.

Here are a few shots from yesterday’s Florida State/Samford game that preceded Georgia vs. Middle Tennessee at Auburn Arena. Samford showed a lot of heart and they were obviously well-coached. Much of what they were attempting to do versus FSU would’ve worked with more athletic personnel. Ultimately, the Seminoles were just too fast, too tall, and too strong for this particular  squad of Bulldogs. Hopefully the Bulldogs taking on the ‘Noles tomorrow night will have a little more success…

As all of us Fastbreakers know from unhappy experience a time or two in the past, it’s really hard to win a game against a good team when you suffer through a long scoreless stretch. Middle Tennessee saw their hopes of upsetting the Lady Dawgs go down the tubes when they came out of the halftime locker room and proceeded to score exactly zero points in the first eight minutes of the second half of last night’s game. That allowed Georgia to stretch their six-point halftime lead out to double-digits…and they never really looked back, going on to win by fifteen points and advance to a second-round NCAA Tournament showdown with Florida State tomorrow night. (FSU dismantled Samford by 30 points, 76-46, in the opening session’s first game.) J.J. led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points and Porsha went double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. This one was decided by fifteen points…but it was far from a cakewalk. MTSU turned out a sizable, loud, and rowdy rooting contingent the the Blue Raiders fought hard from the opening tip to the final buzzer. But the bottom line is that the Lady Bulldogs took care of business and now it’s on to round two.

Georgia and FSU will battle for a slot in the Sweet Sixteen tomorrow night at 9:35 PM (Eastern) at Auburn Arena. We’ll have a Georgia/FSU preview posted right here sometime this evening…and we’ll be updating the site with more photos from yesterday’s NCAA Tournament action in Auburn as the day goes on. So check back in sometime later on today. And enjoy all of the other Tournament games tonight. Georgia Tech vs. Ohio State and Kentucky vs. North Carolina should be a couple of great games. Gotta love March Madness!

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

Even though Auburn, Alabama might be The Loveliest Village On The Plains, it doesn’t usually rank that highly on the list of places one might consider to go dancing. That changes this weekend as the biggest dance of them all, The 2011 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship takes over the brand-new Auburn Arena. Some time around 7:30 or so tomorrow night (depending on when the preceding Florida State/Samford game ends), our sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs will take the floor in Auburn and begin their quest for another Final Four appearance as they take on the eleven-seed, the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State. The winner of the Georgia/MTSU game meets the Florida State/Samford winner Tuesday night with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in Dallas on the line. Georgia (21-10) heads into the opening round of The Big Dance about as healthy and rested as they’ve been all season. The Lady Bulldogs are actually adding depth for their post-season run as Ronika Ransford, suspended by Coach Landers the last week of the regular season, has been reinstated to the active roster. No matter what else Ronika brings to the table the rest of the way, just having that one extra body on the bench and five extra fouls to give will be crucial in terms of keeping everyone fresh and ready to contribute. We say this every season, but it’s always true: This is when the fun starts, Fastbreakers.

Your humble official Fastbreak Club website dude is attending tomorrow night’s festivities and we’ll have recaps, web links, and exclusive photos from both games posted right here sometime during the day on Monday. Here’s hoping that post also includes all the details about a second-round match-up on Tuesday night for our Lady Dawgs. See you on The Plains!

NCAA TOURNAMENT (FIRST ROUND), MARCH 20, 2011

Auburn Arena in Auburn, Alabama

#6 GEORGIA VS. #11 MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE (around 7:30 PM, Eastern)

TV/Radio/Online: ESPN2/Georgia Bulldog Radio Network/ESPN3.com

Click here for the official Georgia/MTSU NCAA Tournament game notes.

Here’s a link to the Middle Tennessee State women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the entire Blue Raider roster.