The wait in question is for more information on the condition of J.J.’s right knee. A big win on the road and a career-high 22-point performance from Anne Marie notwithstanding, the major storyline coming out of this afternoon’s 17-point win in Starkville is “What’s up with J.J.’s knee injury?” As soon as something official is posted, we’ll have it right here. In the meantime…here’s the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Anne Marie Armstrong equaled her career high with 22 points to lead a trio of Lady Bulldogs in double digits as No. 19 Georgia secured a 68-51 victory over Mississippi State here on Sunday.

Khaalidah Miller scored 17, and Jasmine Hassell chipped in 12. Erika Ford added eight (all in the second half) for Georgia (15-3, 4-1 SEC). Porsha Porter paced State (11-6, 1-3 SEC) with a dozen points.

The victory was even more impressive considering the Lady Bulldogs played the final 33:58 without starting point guard Jasmine James.

“We’ve got a lot of kids with aches and pains,” Andy Landers said. “For them to be able to come out and play and then lose a player in the game and not flinch and continue to make plays like they did today is admirable. It’s a maturity and a strength that a lot of teams don’t have.”

Georgia led 23-16 when James went to the floor with 6:02 left in the first half grasping the right knee she sprained during the Montana State game on Dec. 20. James missed the Lady Bulldogs’ final two non-conference outings against Appalachian State and Furman before returning to the court for the SEC opener versus Arkansas on Jan. 1.

James did not return, leaving Ford, Miller and Meredith Mitchell on the floor for the rest of the contest.

The Lady Bulldogs were impressive over the entire 40 minutes.
Georgia scored the game’s first five points and never trailed. Armstrong and Miller combined to score 14 as the Lady Bulldogs opened up a 20-10 lead at the 9:35 mark. State responded with a 6-0 run to pull within four just 1:03 later.

After play resumed following James’ injury, Georgia quickly scored five points – on a runner by Miller and a three from Armstrong – to build the largest advantage of the first half at 28-16. The Lady Bulldogs eventually entered the lockerroom up 34-26.

Georgia notched the first five points of the second stanza in less than a minute to expand the margin to 13. State did not pull within single digits the rest of the way, with the lead topping out at 60-42 with 5:31 left.
The Lady Bulldogs shot 42.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded State, 40-29. Georgia had as many offensive rebounds (21) as Mississippi State grabbed defensively and posted a 29-12 edge in points off of turnovers.

“I thought everyone played well,” Landers said. “Our guards, first of all, were terrific defensively and our traps on ball screens really kept Mississippi State from executing and doing the things that they do so well. That piece drove the game and drove the outcome of the game. For the most part, we kept them out of the paint as well. That’s what they want to do…drive the ball into the lane and make plays or drive and kick out or drive and play off to a post player. We accomplished the objectives we set out to accomplish before the game started.”

The Lady Bulldogs will return home on Thursday to host No. 9 Kentucky at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 PM. The UGA Athletic Association is offering $2 tickets to the game by using the promo code LADYDOGS when ordering online at georgiadogs.com. Tickets are available in any upper level section and the online promo offer expires Thursday, January 19, at 3:00 PM.

We’ll have a preview of the Georgia/Kentucky game posted right here sometime Tuesday night. And if there’s news about J.J.’s knee between now and then, we’ll get that posted as soon as it’s released.

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

What’s your worst Georgia/Mississippi State memory? Getting bounced by State early in the SEC Tournament? The infamous “Super Bowl Sunday” upset in Starkville? The refs putting LaToya Thomas on the line with no time left on the clock in Athens? It just seems like bad mojo is in the air whenever our Lady Bulldogs take on State. Tomorrow afternoon would be a most opportune time to begin re-shaping the “Lady Bulldog vs. Lady Bulldog” dynamic. Georgia (14-3 overall, 3-1 in SEC play) travels to Starkville tomorrow to face a Mississippi State (11-5, 1-2 in the SEC) team that can throw some height at you. Five MSU Lady Bulldogs measure in at 6-3 or taller. They’ve lost some close games to very good teams…but they got stomped by 48 points by Kentucky in Lexington last weekend. They bounced back with a win on the road at Alabama this past Thursday…but, like we were saying, the records don’t seem to matter all that much when Georgia and State hook up. If our Lady Bulldogs can knock down some outside shots early, pull the State defense out from the paint, and maybe get some of their “bigs” in foul trouble, then they’ll have a pretty good shot at picking up their third straight SEC win and coming home to face Kentucky next Thursday with some solid momentum.

Georgia and Mississippi State are set for a 3:00 PM (Eastern) tip-off tomorrow afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville. No TV for this battle of the Lady Bulldogs…but you can catch all the action on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a Georgia/Mississippi State game recap and web links posted right here sometime tomorrow night.

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

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

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

If you enjoy watching a couple of teams just flat-out get after each other, then Stegeman Coliseum was the place to be tonight. On a blustery night in Athens, the Lady Bulldogs (14-3 overall, 3-1 in SEC play) blew past Florida (11-6, 1-3 in the SEC) by a half-dozen points to pick up a big conference win on a night when J.J. and Hassell struggled to get anything going on offense. However, a pair of 19-point performances from Anne Marie and Khaalidah and some lights-out free throw shooting (Georgia went 18-of-22 from the line) sealed the Gators’ fate, despite a late run fueled by a string of Lady Dawg turnovers.

It was all Anne Marie early-on as she scored 13 first-half points, including a steal and layup at the buzzer that propelled Georgia to a 13-point halftime lead and brought the house down. The Gators pulled within single digits about midway through the second half and eventually whittled the Lady Bulldog lead down to three. That was when Khaalidah started knocking down big shots and everybody started knocking down free throws. It wasn’t a mistake-free performance from Georgia…the Lady Dawgs turned the ball over 24 times and were out-rebounded by eight…but they found a way to win. And any time you beat Florida, it’s a good game.

This Sunday, the Lady Bulldogs travel to Starkville…where nothing ever comes easy…to take on Mississippi State at 3:00 PM (Eastern). We’ll have a Georgia/Mississippi State preview posted right here sometime during the day on Saturday. In the meantime…make sure to catch “Under The Lights,” featuring the Lady Bulldog basketball program, on Fox SportSouth sometime in the next few days. Airtimes are listed in the post just below this one you’re reading.

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

And click here for additional details about “Under The Lights” on Fox SportSouth.

Tonight (January 12) our Lady Bulldogs will be featured on the Fox SportSouth program “Under The Lights” as the award-winning documentary series will spend some quality time with Coach Landers and the entire Georgia women’s basketball family. Airtime on SportSouth tonight is 10:30 PM…perfect for winding down after a big win over Florida! If you can’t catch the show tonight, additional airtimes are January 18 at 11:30 PM, January 21 at 10:00 PM, January 22 at 10:30 PM and January 24 at 9:30 PM. Just about every reputable cable and/or satellite carrier offers SportSouth…so check your local listings for the channel number and join the Lady Dawgs “Under The Lights” right in your own living room.

Brenda Rawson, our unofficial (and we probably ought to make it official by now!) Fastbreaking field photographer sent in these game shots from the Auburn game this past Sunday. It’s always nice to see those glorious red road uniforms. Several of these photos do a great job of capturing how relentlessly the Lady Bulldogs were getting after the Tigers on defense. Lots of hands in faces and bodies on the floor. Thanks, Brenda…glad it turned out to be a winning bus trip!

Notre Dame won an overtime thriller over Connecticut last week and consequently leapfrogged the Huskies in the national standings. Connecticut didn’t even get their usual solitary scandalous first-place vote this week. (Someone must’ve had an attack of conscience…) Other than that switcheroo, the top five remained intact this week…with Baylor still looming large at number one. Georgia, as always, got over-punished by the writers and fell to nineteenth in the AP poll while the coaches (who actually watch games) only dropped the Lady Bulldogs one spot to number sixteen. 

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

AP

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Maryland

19. GEORGIA

ESPN/USA TODAY

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Maryland

16. GEORGIA

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

After an “It was the worst of times, it was the best of times” road trip to Tennessee and Auburn (with apologies to Charles Dickens), the Lady Bulldogs return to the friendly confines of Stegeman Coliseum tomorrow night to face them Gators from south of The Gnat Line. Georgia (13-3 overall, 2-1 in SEC play) will attempt to carry over the momentum and, more importantly, the defensive intensity from last Sunday’s dominating performance at Auburn. It’ll be interesting to see which Florida team (11-5 overall, 1-2 in the SEC) shows up tomorrow night. The Gators lost over the weekend to South Carolina…but they’ve beaten their bitter in-state rival (and then nationally ranked) Florida State and they gave sixth-ranked Kentucky a big-time scare before losing to the ‘Cats by three points. After an infrequent-to-say-the-least loss to the Gators (Georgia leads the all-time series 45-13) down in Gainesville last February in their regular season finale, you better know Coach Landers will have the Lady Dawgs hungry and bent on redemption. And like Coach always says…Georgia against Florida in anything is always going to be a war. Hey, how often do you get to see a war up close and personal? See you there!

The Lady Dawgs will “wrassle” the Gators at the Coliseum tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. No TV for this game…so if you can’t make it to Athens, your next best option is your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a game recap, web links and exclusive Georgia/Florida photos posted right here sometime late tomorrow night.

Click here for the official Georgia/Florida game notes.

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

Click here to see the complete Gator roster.

Now that’s how you bounce back after a whoopin’. The Lady Bulldogs came out this afternoon and “D”ed-up on Auburn like there were personal issues at stake. It was something to see. Let’s go to the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

No. 16 Georgia (13-3, 2-1 SEC) scored the game’s first 13 points and never looked back en route to a 70-45 victory over Auburn (9-7, 1-2 SEC) here on Sunday afternoon.

Jasmine Hassell and Jasmine James scored 14 points apiece to lead four Lady Bulldog in double figures. Khaalidah Miller added 12, and Midfield, Ala., native Meredith Mitchell chipped in 10. Anne Marie Armstrong contributed game-high tallies of five assists and four blocks.

“Our team and coaches are very proud of this performance,” Andy Landers said. “It was motivated by our game Thursday in Knoxville that we thought was very lacking in just about every way. We thought we needed to be more aggressive and leave everything on the court, and I think they did that today.”

Georgia lost to No. 6 Tennessee, 80-51, just three days earlier.
The Lady Bulldogs’ 13-0 run covered the opening 6:59. James did much of the damage, accounting for seven of the initial nine points.

Auburn scored on a Morgan Jennings free throw at the 12:33 mark to make it 13-1. The Tigers connected on their first field goal with 11:25 on the clock when Blanche Alverson hit a three to make it 17-4.

Georgia continued its onslaught, however, and built a 17-point lead on two occasions, lastly at 25-8. After Auburn scored eight unanswered to close the gap to single digits, a three from Miller and a shot clock-beating jumper by Mitchell expanded the advantage back to 30-16 just before halftime.

Georgia scored the first two buckets of the second half to quickly match its largest lead less than two minutes into the stanza. The margin hovered around that mark for a several minutes before a 17-2 run covering 9:19 bulged the score to 62-32 with 3:52 left.

Georgia outrebounded the Tigers, 47-35, including 23 offensive boards to Auburn’s 24 defensive. Auburn made more free throws (16) than field goals (13).

“I was pleased with the fact we were ready to play and the way we played,” Landers said. “I thought we started the game and took the floor with the right attitude and kept it there. That attitude was ‘We are going to dominate you. We’re going to get after you. We’re going to be the aggressor.’

“It was consistent,” Landers continued. “I don’t think we could’ve played much better defensively. We could play better offensively. We left some points on the board. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great game and a great performance, but we can play much better on the offensive end than we did today.”

Georgia will return to action on Thursday when the Lady Bulldogs host Florida at 7:00 PM. The first 500 UGA students in attendance will receive “Beat Florida” t-shirts, pizza and drinks.

We’ll have a preview of the Florida game posted right here sometime Tuesday night. If you were at the Georgia/Auburn game today and took some photos, we’d love to share them with your fellow Fastbreakers. Just send them (in .JPEG file format, please) to m.holcomb@windstream.net and we’ll make you semi-famous on the whole internet! We’ll even post your name for credit. Whoo-hoo!

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

So…Thursday night’s behind us. Moving on:

The Fastbreak Express bus will be transporting a big chunk of the Lady Bulldog Nation out to The Plains tomorrow afternoon as Georgia (12-3 overall, 1-1 in SEC play) travels to Auburn (9-6 overall, 1-1 in the SEC) for yet another longtime traditional rivalry game that will have major implications for how the SEC standings will shake down this season. Auburn’s off to kind of a scuffling start this season, having lost to teams like Marist and Florida International…but they are battle-tested from a bruising schedule. The Tigers faced the likes of Temple, Purdue, and Duke in non-conference competition earlier this season. So they aren’t going to be rattled by anything our Lady Dawgs throw at them. Actually, the best thing Georgia could throw at the Tigers might be the Fastbreak Express bus itself. The past few seasons, it seems like a busload of Fastbreakers has somehow been “the kiss of death” for our Lady Dawgs. Tomorrow afternoon would be a fine time to turn that particular trend around and deliver a bunch of smiling faces back to Athens after a winning bus trip.

Georgia and Auburn will hook it up on The Plains tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM (Eastern) time. CSS will once again carry the game live exclusively for their cable subscribers and non-CSS’ers can watch online at ESPN3.com. Your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station will also have the game, featuring J.D. on play-by-play. We’ll have a game recap and web links posted right here sometime tomorrow night. If you’re booked on the Fastbreak Express bus, have a great time, make a lot of racket…and bring us home a victory!

Click here for the official Georgia/Auburn game notes.

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

Click here to see the complete Tiger roster.

So, how was the food at Buffalo’s? I don’t know if they make a wing sauce hot and spicy enough to do something about the taste tonight’s Georgia/Tennesee game left in Fastbreakers’ mouths. Let’s go to the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Glory Johnson’s game-highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds led No. 6 Tennessee (11-3, 2-0 SEC) to an 80-51 victory over No. 16 Georgia (12-3, 1-1 SEC) here on Thursday night.

Freshman Ariel Massengale added 19 points, 15 in the first half, for the Lady Volunteers.

Meredith Mitchell led Georgia with 14 points.

“We got some nice looks inside early and people that normally hit shots missed some easy ones,” head coach Andy Landers. “In the second half, we got good looks from the perimeter, but it seemed like none of our three-pointers would fall.

“But I wasn’t impressed with us tonight,” Landers continued. “I’m not going to sugar coat it. We got our butts kicked. We got our butts kicked on the offensive glass and then we drew a lot of fouls so they killed us at the free throw line. We didn’t try very hard, and that’s what I’m most disappointed about.”

After the Lady Bulldogs opened the scoring on a jumper by Jasmine James, Tennessee quickly rolled off eight straight points in a span of 96 seconds. The Lady Vols pushed their lead to double digits at 17-6 with 13:36 remaining in the first half, scoring 10 of those points on layups.

Georgia closed to within five at 30-25 with 2:05 remaining before Tennessee ended the period on a 6-2 surge.

The Lady Bulldogs pulled within 38-32 early in the second half and were within eight at the 15:56 mark. The Lady Vols then embarked on a 17-4 run over the next 5:21 to put the game out of reach.

Georgia will return to action Sunday, remaining on the road to face Auburn at 2:00 PM ET. The game will be televised regionally on CSS.

We’ll have a Georgia/Auburn preview posted right here sometime Friday night. Shake this one off, Fastbreakers. It’s a long season and this team is going to improve as the season progresses. Bank on it.

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