You have to give it up for Coach Doug Robinson, Jr. and his South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs. They are a well-coached and very disciplined team. Even after falling being 16-0 to Georgia, they ran plays on offense, worked hard on defense, and even made a couple of nice runs during the course of the game. But it was ultimately a case of too much horsepower as our own Lady Bulldogs eventually took control and won going away. On an evening when every (Georgia) Lady Bulldog who took to the floor ended up lighting the scoreboard, J.J. led the way with 17 points. Jazz scored a dozen points while Khaalidah’s 11 points and ten from Erika rounded out Georgia’s double-digit scorers. Overall, the Lady Dawgs shot a smoking 50.8% from the field on the night. You knock down half your shots and out-rebound the other guys by double-digits (as Georgia did) and you’re probably going to win big. And that’s exactly what happened in this game. A dominant performance from the Lady Bulldogs from Athens.

Up next? TECH. This Sunday afternoon. We’ll have a Georgia/Georgia Tech preview posted right here sometime during the day on Friday.

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

The two major national basketball polls agree on their top five teams this week. Unfortunately, they also agreed that the Lady Bulldogs should take a tumble out of the Top Ten after suffering their first loss of the season to Georgetown last weekend in Las Vegas. Don’t reach for the panic button yet, though. It’s shaping up to be a volatile season in the national rankings. We may not have a consensus Top Ten until well into conference play. Right now, it looks like Baylor’s a pretty solid number-one…with everybody else getting re-shuffled on a weekly basis.

Here’s a look at the top five in both national polls and Georgia’s ranking:

AP

1. Baylor

2. Connecticut

3. Notre Dame

4. Texas A&M

5. Stanford

15. GEORGIA

ESPN/USA TODAY

1. Baylor

2. Connecticut

3. Notre Dame

4. Texas A&M

5. Stanford

14. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire top-25 in both major polls.

A fearless prediction: Tonight you can be absolutely certain…beyond a shadow of a living doubt…that the Lady Bulldogs are going to win. Because tonight it’s Lady Bulldogs vs. Lady Bulldogs. It feels strange to whip out that tired old joke about some school other than Mississippi State…but the “other” Lady Bulldogs that will show up at the Coliseum tonight hail from South Carolina State University (located in Orangeburg). State is 2-2 after defeating Charleston Southern at home this past weekend. Our own 5-1 Lady Bulldogs broke even in Vegas over the weekend, losing their first game of the season to Georgetown before rolling up on Northeastern. It’s been a couple of weeks since the Lady Dawgs have enjoyed some home cooking…so grab a few friends, come on out tonight and we’ll all get re-acquainted. See you there!

Georgia and South Carolina State are set for a 7:00 PM tip-off tonight at Stegeman Coliseum. No TV…just radio (check your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station’s listing). We’ll have a game recap, web links, and exclusive photos posted right here late tonight.

Click here for the official Georgia/South Carolina State game notes.

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

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

A big bounce-back win for the Lady Bulldogs today that hopefully made the flight back home from Vegas a little more enjoyable. I’m still having radio reception issues here in Winterville…so, once again, let’s go to the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Freshman Erika Ford made the most of her first career start on Sunday, posting game- and career-high tallies of 18 points and seven rebounds to lead No. 10 Georgia (5-1) to an 81-61 win over Northeastern (0-6) in the consolation game of the UNLV Lady Rebel Round-up.

Classmate Krista Donald also started for the first time at UGA and chipped in seven points (on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor), five rebounds and a team-best four assists.

“I thought they both played well,” head coach Andy Landers said. “I thought Ford was great defensively and very good on the offensive end. I thought the same about Donald. We were really shuffling the lineup to try to find someone to embrace the role of being a starter.”

The Lady Bulldogs built a double-digit lead early and led comfortably throughout but didn’t put the game out of reach until midway through the second half. Georgia led 50-40 from the 14:17 mark through 10:33 before a pair of Jasmine Hassell free throws, a Donald three and a layup from Jasmine James pushed the margin to 17 just 70 seconds later.

Hassell also scored 18 points and Khaalidah Miller chipped in 16, her sixth double-figure outing in as many contests this season.

Georgia improved to 427-7 all-time when scoring 80 or more points during Landers’ 33 seasons in Athens.

Five different Lady Bulldogs scored in a 12-0 run covering just 3:42 that put Georgia up 17-5 with 13:17 left in the half. Georgia expanded its lead to 17 points twice before the Huskies chipped away with a 10-0 run of their own to close within 36-29 with 51 second left in the period.

Donald and Ford became the 68th and 69th freshmen to start for Landers at Georgia. Ford responded with her first double-digit scoring performance of the year before the intermission with 10 first-half points.

The Lady Bulldogs will return to action on Wednesday when they host South Carolina State at Stegeman Coliseum at 7 PM ET.

We’ll have a preview of the South Carolina State game posted right here sometime during the day on Tuesday.

You just read the official recap…but click here for the stats and box score.

Here’s a look at the Northeastern Huskies, Georgia’s opponent in tomorrow’s third-place game at the UNLV Lady Rebel Round-Up in Las Vegas. Details about tomorrow’s game can be found in the Georgetown game recap. I imagine it’s not easy to get fired-up for a third-place game…but every trip out onto the court represents an opportunity to get better. There’s no doubt Andy will have the Lady Dawgs ready to play.

Here’s a link to the Northeastern women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the complete Husky roster.

So much for going undefeated, right? From Jeff’s description on the radio, it just sounded like one of those “death from a hundred little cuts” kind of nights for the Lady Bulldogs. One of those games where you can point to all of the things that went wrong…and yet you still wonder how it got away at the end. Here’s the official recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Jasmine James and Khaalidah Miller scored 16 points apiece for Georgia, but Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers countered with a season-high 23 to lead the Hoyas to a 64-56 victory in the opening round of the UNLV Lady Rebel Round-up on Saturday.

The setback was the first of the year for No. 10 Georgia, which fell to 4-1, while No. 21 Georgetown improved to 4-2. Jasmine Hassell added a dozen points for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Hoyas used a strong second-half rebounding effort to build a double-digit lead the Lady Bulldogs couldn’t overcome. Georgetown outrebounded Georgia 23-13 after the intermission and for the game had one less offensive rebound than the Lady Bulldogs had defensively.

“We’ve been talking about it since the beginning of practice and tonight, above everything we could’ve done better, was rebounding,” head coach Andy Landers said. “It was at the top of the list. And then we just didn’t defend one-on-one very well in the last five minutes. Give Georgetown credit, they did what they needed to do when we got close.”

A 10-0 surge early in the second half put the Hoyas up 45-35 with 13:46 left in the contest. Georgia pulled within five with 9:09 remaining but failed to pull any closer.

After the Hoyas expanded their advantage back to 11, the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 59-56 on a pair of James free throws at the 1:55 mark, but Rubylee Wright answered with a layup deep in the shot clock on the other end to end the rally.

James helped Georgia get off to a quick start. She scored the Lady Bulldogs’ first seven points and then dished to Hassell for a lay-up that put Georgia up 9-2 at the 16:29 mark. Georgetown quickly knotted the score at 11-11 and the rest of the first half was a back-and-forth affair.

Rodgers, who averaged 18.1 points per game in her first two seasons at Georgetown but entered Saturday’s game chipping in just 8.3 ppg this season, found her range late in the first half. She canned a trio of three-pointers in a span of 2:19 to help the Hoyas secure a 31-29 lead at the intermission.

Georgia will now face Northeastern in Sunday’s consolation game at 4:00 PM (Eastern).

The UGA Athletic Association website doesn’t have coverage information listed for tomorrow’s game against Northeastern. If such information is eventually posted, we’ll have it here in an update. If not, I would suggest tuning in to your usual radio station that carries Lady Bulldog basketball at 4:00 PM tomorrow afternoon and hoping for the best. In any event, we’ll have a Georgia/Northeastern recap and game links posted right here sometime tomorrow night.

You just read the official recap…but click here for the stats and box score.

Usually a trip to Vegas means a little fun in the sun…not for our Lady Bulldogs this weekend, however. Georgia will run headlong into one of the sure-enough beasts of the Big East, the 21st-ranked Georgetown Hoyas, tomorrow night in Sin City. It’ll be a scrap…but nobody’s ever gotten better by beating up on cupcakes. This is a very good Lady Dawg team right now…one with designs on being great. If you want to be great, you take on great teams. Rest assured, two great teams…and great programs…will face off against each other for the very first time Saturday night in the Nevada desert. While it is indeed the first meeting ever between Georgia and Georgetown, there will be one very familiar face on the Hoyas bench. Georgetown is coached by Terri Williams-Flournoy, a name that should bring a smile to the faces of most longtime Fastbreakers. Terri was a part of the Lady Bulldog coaching staff for several seasons in the late nineties and early aughts…including the 1999 Final Four team that featured Kelly and Coco Miller. The Lady Dawgs and Hoyas will be competing in the second game of a doubleheader in opening round UNLV Lady Rebel Round-Up tournament action. The first game features the hosting UNLV Lady Rebs taking on Northeastern. Tomorrow’s winners will meet Sunday night for the tournament championship. Las Vegas can be a city of dreams or one of broken hearts…but never bet against the Lady Bulldogs. (In fact, don’t bet on this game at all…that’s not the kind of thing we encourage here at your official Fastbreaking website!)

Georgia and Georgetown take to the floor at 6:30 PM (Eastern) tomorrow night at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada. No TV…but, as always, you can catch all the action on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a game recap, web links, and hopefully a look ahead to a potential tournament championship game posted right here sometime late tomorrow night.

Click here for the official Georgia/Georgetown game notes.

Here’s a link to the Georgetown women’s basketball page.

Click here to see the complete Hoya roster.

This just in from the UGA Sports Communications Office:

ATHENS, GA - Georgia’s Jasmine James (pictured) was named SEC Player of the Week by the league office in Birmingham on Monday after averaging 13.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.7 steals during a trio of Lady Bulldog victories during the previous seven days.

James, a 5-9, junior guard from Memphis, TN, scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor in Georgia’s 68-49 win over Georgia Southern on Nov. 15. On Nov. 17, she flirted with a triple-double with game-high tallies of 17 points, seven assists and six steals – while also grabbing eight rebounds – in a 73-48 victory over College of Charleston. James led the Lady Bulldogs with nine rebounds and six assists and played all 40 minutes in a 67-60 win over No. 23 Southern Cal on Nov. 20.

“To put up those kind of numbers, you not only have to play well, you have to play hard,” Andy Landers said after the College of Charleston win. “J.J. hasn’t just played well, she’s played extremely hard for extended minutes. She’s been very impressive.”

For the season, James is averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 4.0 steals per game. Among SEC statistical leaders, she currently ranks No. 10 in scoring, No. 4 in assists, No. 2 in steals, No. 6 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) and No. 4 in minutes played (34.5).

The recognition represents the sixth weekly honor during James’ two-plus seasons in Athens. As a freshman in 2009-10, she was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week a league-record five times.

The national rankings got all shook up this week as top-fivers Tennesee, Notre Dame, and Stanford all suffered their first losses of the season. Combine that with Georgia’s impressive win over then-ranked USC over the weekend and you have a scenario for the Lady Bulldogs to break into the nation’s Top Ten. And that’s exactly what they did, coming in at number-ten in both major polls. No need to stop there…onward and upward! One last note: Serving as a reminder of what a handful is in store for the rest of the SEC when they get here next year, defending national champion Texas A&M made their presence known in the top five for the first time this season.

Here’s a look at the top five in both national polls and Georgia’s ranking:

AP

1. Baylor

2. Connecticut

3. Stanford

4. Notre Dame

5. Texas A&M

10. GEORGIA

ESPN/USA TODAY

1. Baylor

2. Connecticut

3. Notre Dame

4. Texas A&M

5. Stanford

10. GEORGIA

Click here to see the entire top-25 in both major polls.

What a huge win for the Lady Bulldogs. It’s always nice to knock off a nationally ranked team…and it’s even better when it avenges a loss from last season. I was somewhere between Montgomery and Atlanta during the game…so once I again I’ll refer you to the official recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Meredith Mitchell put up a career-high 21 points and notched five rebounds as the No. 12 Georgia Lady Bulldogs (4-0) defeated the No. 23 USC Women of Troy (1-2), 67-60, Sunday afternoon.

“I thought our kids were well prepared,” said head coach Andy Landers. “(Assistant) Coach (Cameron) Newbauer did a great job of getting the information we needed and getting it to the team in a way they could understand. I thought we were the aggressive team and most of the time, the aggressive will win it.”

After heading into the locker room with a 26-19 lead, the Lady Bulldogs started the second period with a 14-2 run and never looked back. Georgia shot 48.1 percent from the floor in the second half, including double-digit efforts from Mitchell and Khaalidah Miller, 11 and 12 points, respectively.

“The great thing about Meredith’s performance was that it was all within reason,” continued Landers. “I didn’t think one of her shots was ill-conceived. They were the shots I wanted her to take. She was driving the baseline, pulling up on the boards and then coming off of two screens she made a three. It was good day, about as good as it gets.”

Miller tied her season high with 17 points and added four rebounds to her fourth consecutive double digit scoring effort his season.
Jasmine James and Jasmine Hassell led Georgia on the boards with nine rebounds each. James also recorded seven points and six assists, while Hassell added nine points to her season-high rebounding effort.

“Everyday is not going to be a great day for everybody,” said Landers. “Michael Jordan wasn’t great everyday. Everybody on the basketball team has to find a way to do something. They can work together. Maybe it’s going to be shot, maybe it’s going to be a rebound, or maybe it’s going to be a steal. When players learn to think like that, they become more confident. I thought Jasmine James was terrific with the ball.”

Three USC players recorded double-digit scoring efforts, but it was not enough to overcome Georgia.

In the first half, Georgia held the Women of Troy to 24.1 percent from the floor and scored 12 points off of USC turnovers.

The Lady Bulldogs play again Saturday, November 26, as they take on No. 14 Georgetown at the Lady Rebel Round-Up in Las Vegas. Georgia returns to Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday, November 30 at 7:00 PM, when they host South Carolina State.

You just read the official recap…but click here for the stats and box score.