Georgia Fastbreak Club

TOMORROW AFTERNOON: Georgia vs. Alabama

mike — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:06:33 +0000

It’s a quirk of the SEC schedule that Georgia plays on every Super Bowl Sunday. Our Lady Bulldogs have played some memorable Super Sunday games over the years. Some of them are memorable for a good reason…others you wish you could just forget. This year, the Lady Dawgs and the Crimson Tide of Alabama will go at it as your Super Bowl pre-game appetizer. And I know you’d rather watch Georgia attempt to pick up a big SEC win on the road instead of some eight-hour pre-game show, right? The Lady Bulldogs (17-6 overall, 6-4 in SEC play) are coming off a win at home over Mississippi State a couple of nights ago and looking to move up in the conference standings. The Tide, on the other hand, are having a rather tough go of it this season. ‘Bama is under .500 overall for the season (10-13) and winless in nine SEC games. Now we’ve said it here before and we’ll say it again: Nothing is easy in this league. Nothing. Especially on the road. But part of taking care of your business in the SEC is beating the teams you’re supposed to beat. If Georgia comes out with the same kind of intensity they showed in jumping out to a 15-4 lead over Mississippi State the other night and maintains that same intensity on “D” for forty minutes, they’ll leave Tuscaloosa with their second straight SEC win. And it will truly be a Super Sunday.

The Lady Bulldogs will attempt to stem the Crimson Tide tomorrow afternoon in Tuscaloosa at 3:00 PM (Eastern). For those of us not making that long ride out Highway 20, the game will be televised live on SportSouth (check your local cable or satellite provider for the channel). You can also listen to J.D.’s call of the game on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a game recap and web links posted right here sometime tomorrow night.

Click here for the official Georgia/Alabama game notes.

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

Click here to see the complete Crimson Tide roster.

State Sedated…Georgia – 70, Mississippi State – 60

mike — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:26:27 +0000

Sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves, put your head down, and “win ugly.” That’s what our Lady Bulldogs did tonight at the Coliseum as they downed a pesky and persistent Mississippi State team by a final score of 70-60. It was a game of fits and starts…and runs…as Georgia (17-6 overall, 6-4 in SEC play) roared out of the gate to a 15-4 early lead and it looked like a rout might be in the making. But State (13-9 overall, 3-6 in the SEC) battled back to take a one-point lead at 22-21 before another 15-4 Georgia run propelled our Lady Dawgs to a double-digit halftime lead. In the second half, State again showed some serious resolve in tying the game up at 40-all…but from that point it was all Georgia as the red-and-black Lady Bulldogs rattled off 15 straight points and never looked back. The two-game Georgia losing streak was snapped…and hopefully this was the start of a winning streak.

Jazz and Khaalidah each scored 16 points to lead the Georgia scoring attack. Meredith also reached double figures, scoring 11 points….while Anne Marie and Erika added nine and eight points, respectively. Some solid bench play tonight, too, as Krista played some key minutes and looked like her pre-injury explosive self and Danielle gave the team a lift with a pretty runner and a steal in a cameo appearance, allowing Georgia’s overworked starters to sit a couple of well-earned minutes.

Time for an Alabama getaway this weekend as the Lady Bulldogs travel to Tuscaloosa on Sunday to take on the Crimson Tide. We’ll have a Georgia/Alabama preview posted right here sometime during the day on Saturday.

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

This Week’s Polls: Georgia 21st/20th

mike — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:03:32 +0000

Well…you knew this was coming. Back-to-back losses to Vandy and Tennessee led to a precipitous drop in the polls for our Lady Bulldogs this week. Georgia fell out of the Top 20 in the AP poll (21st) and the Lady Dawgs are just barely hanging in there (20th) in the eyes of the nation’s coaches. Still, I’ve got a feeling that a Lady Bulldog winning streak is just around the corner…starting at home tomorrow night, as a matter of fact…to be accompanied by a rise in the rankings. Not much movement in the national top five…with Baylor reigning supreme once again as the unanimous number-one in both polls. But the movement that did take place is significant to SEC fans as Kentucky displaced Duke at number-five in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

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

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Duke

21. GEORGIA

ESPN/USA TODAY

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Kentucky

20. GEORGIA

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

TOMORROW NIGHT: Georgia vs. Mississippi State

mike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:50:11 +0000

Tomorrow night’s agenda versus Mississippi State couldn’t be more straightforward and obvious: Throw the brakes on a two-game Georgia losing streak and get the February home stretch to the postseason started off on the right foot. Mississippi State (13-8 overall, 3-5 in SEC play), coming off a 26-point loss to South Carolina in Columbia over the weekend, has of course already fallen to our Lady Dawgs once this season in Starkville a couple of weeks ago. Georgia (16-6 overall, 5-4 in the SEC), as noted earlier, will be looking to get back on track after back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Those two losses have brought the Lady Bulldogs back to the pack somewhat in the battle for a top-four SEC finish and a first-round SEC Tournament “bye.” But now the schedule tilts in Georgia’s favor as the back half of the Lady Dawgs’ SEC dance card is filled with teams hovering around the .500 mark…with the majority of those games taking place in Athens, where the home court has been safely protected to the tune of a 9-2 Georgia record at Stegeman Coliseum this season. The schedule is lining up. Injured players are recovering. It’s time to make a move in the SEC standings. The first move gets made tomorrow night at the Coliseum. See you there!

Georgia and Mississippi State are set for a 7:00 PM tip-off tomorrow night at Stegeman Coliseum. No TV for this one…but you can catch all the action live on your local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a game recap, web links, and exclusive Georgia/Mississippi State photos that you’ll find nowhere else on the whole world-wide internet posted right here sometime late tomorrow night. Come on out to the Coliseum tomorrow night if you possibly can…this is where the stretch run starts.

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.

Rocky Topped, Again…Tennessee – 67, Georgia – 50

mike — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:35:08 +0000

Two reasons this game was lost: An 11-0 start to the second half by Tennessee that turned a one-point halftime lead to a formidable double-digit one…and Georgia’s .288 (17-59 from the floor) shooting percentage for the game. Neutralize that eleven-point run and knock down some shots…things might’ve worked out differently. As it turned out, though, the Lady Vols (now 16-5 overall, 7-1 in SEC play) defeated our Lady Bulldogs (16-6 overall, 5-4 SEC) going away and now Georgia must find away to pick up the pieces and halt their first losing streak of the season. As you might expect after such an anemic offensive performance, only two Lady Dawgs put up double-digit points against Tennessee…Meredith with 13 points before fouling out and Hassell would up scoring eleven. It all went down before a sellout crowd in excess of 10,000. And the atmosphere during the nip-and-tuck first half was March Madness-quality. But the Lady Vols will make you pay if you don’t execute and it seems like every Georgia miss in the second half turned into points for Tennessee on the other end. In his post-game radio show, Coach Landers said he told the team that or the most part they executed well enough…they just missed too many open looks. And we’ll give Andy (in a direct quote taken from the same show) the last word: “You wanna win? You gotta score.”

But don’t push that panic button just yet though, Fastbreakers. Losing two straight is, of course, no fun. But the Lady Bulldogs are going to catch a break in their schedule the rest of the way this season. Again…and as always…nothing, NOTHING is easy or given in this league…but Georgia’s going to be facing a lot of struggling SEC teams from here on out. And four of those games, including what looks to be the toughest one…a rematch with Vandy, will be contested within the friendly confines of Stegeman Coliseum. The opportunity is still well within reach for the Lady Dawgs to finish among the top-four SEC teams and grab a coveted first-round “bye” at the SEC Tournament. The home stretch starts next Thursday when Mississippi State comes to town. We’ll have a Georgia/Mississippi State preview posted right here sometime during the day on Wednesday.

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

TOMORROW AFTERNOON: Georgia vs. Tennessee

mike — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:19:17 +0000

Or maybe you call it tomorrow evening. Whichever. But Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols are going to be here tomorrow and that means there’s only one acceptable place for you to be at 5:00 PM…Stegeman Coliseum. And wear your red-and-black Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes because ESPN2 will be in the house and you just might end up on national television. I wrote a few weeks ago about how hard it is to come up with something to write about Georgia (16-5 overall, 5-3 in SEC play) and Tennessee (15-5 overall, 6-1 in the SEC) hooking it up on the court. It’s even harder for a second game within a month. So I’m not even going to try. All you Fastbreakers know what the deal is here and what’s at stake. Show up in prodigious numbers, ready to holler. Georgia and Tennessee. Tomorrow afternoon (5:00 PM) at the Coliseum. See you there!

TV: ESPN2 (check your local cable/satellite listings for channel). Radio: Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliates (again, check local listings). We’ll have a Georgia/Tennessee game recap, web links, and exclusive photos posted right here sometime late tomorrow night.

Click here for the official Georgia/Tennessee game notes.

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

Click here to see the complete Lady Vol roster.

And, most importantly, click this here to learn more about “We Back Pat” and how you can help fund Alzheimer’s-related programs and research.

Music City Blues…Vanderbilt – 68, Georgia – 48

mike — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:40:43 +0000

Eventually, Vanderbilt’s going to need a new arena. Whenever they finally decide to build a new home for the Commodores, they won’t have to look far for a volunteer to trigger the demolition of Memorial Gym. I’m sure Andy would be happy to push that plunger. Let’s go to the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

Christina Foggie poured in a career-high 34 points to lead Vanderbilt to a 68-48 upset of No. 17 Georgia at Memorial Gymnasium on Thursday night.

Anne Marie Armstrong and Meredith Mitchell led Georgia (16-5, 5-3 SEC) with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Tiffany Clarke added 13 points for Vanderbilt (15-5, 3-5 SEC).

“A lot of things we talked about from a plan standpoint we didn’t do,” Andy Landers said. “Vanderbilt does some things defensively very well. But they also have some weaknesses, and we didn’t do a good job of exploiting those things. Our energy on the defensive end for the first four or five minutes was pretty good, but when we didn’t score we let that affect our effort on defense.”

After trailing by five points at halftime, the Lady Bulldogs pulled within two and had possession twice in the second stanza – lastly at 39-37 – but failed to convert.

“I thought our offensive decision making at that time led to our downfall,” Landers said.

A three-point play by Foggie ignited a 10-2 surge that put Vanderbilt in command at 49-39.

The Lady Bulldogs opened the game solidly. Armstrong and Mitchell combined to score all of Georgia’s first 14 points as the Lady Bulldogs opened opened up a 14-8 lead with 12:28 remaining in the first half. Vanderbilt counted with a 10-0 run over the next 3:24 to go up 18-8 at the 8:15 mark.

Georgia knotted the score at 18-18 and the teams were tied 26-26 with 2:33 left before the Commodores scored the final five points of the period to build a 31-26 lead at the intermission.
Vanderbilt shot 66.7 percent from the field, including 9-of-20 from three-point range, and outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs 19-8 in the second half.

“Give credit to Vanderbilt, the three-ball is something that they’re very, very good at and they knocked them down,” Landers said. “Entering the game, I hoped to win the rebounding battle but we were very lackluster in that area.”

The Lady Bulldogs return to action on Sunday when they host No. 7 Tennessee in their first weekend home date since Jan. 1. That game will tip at 5:00 PM and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The first 500 UGA students will receive “Beat Tennessee” t-shirts, pizza and drinks.

We’ll have a preview of the Tennessee game posted here sometime on Saturday.

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

This Week’s Polls: Georgia Ranked 17th/15th

mike — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:46:23 +0000

Up one week and down the next…that’s how it went for our Lady Bulldogs in these latest national polls released a couple of days ago. Actually, Georgia wasn’t punished too badly for losing a close one to a top-ten team while being decimated by injuries. The Lady Dawgs fell two spots (to 17th) in the AP media poll and only one (to 15th) in the ESPN/USA Today coaches polls. I guarantee you’d see a big upward leap for our ladies if they can find a way to pull off back-to-back wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee this week. No changes in the top five as Baylor reigns for another week as your unanimous number-one team in all the land. I’ll call it now…they’re not losing until March. If then.

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

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Duke

17. GEORGIA

ESPN/USA TODAY

1. Baylor

2. Notre Dame

3. Connecticut

4. Stanford

5. Duke

15. GEORGIA

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

TOMORROW NIGHT: Georgia vs. Vanderbilt

mike — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:31:43 +0000

You can’t look past anybody in this league. Yes, the Lady Bulldogs have a big game on national television this Sunday…but the road to that game goes straight through Vandy, one of the few SEC stops where the Lady Dawgs have lost more often than they’ve won. That’s right, Vanderbilt (14-5 overall, 2-4 in SEC play) leads this series 11-9 in games played at Memorial Gym in Nashville. Georgia (16-4 overall, 5-2 in the SEC) heads into the second half of the conference schedule with a tenuous grip on a potential SEC Tournament first-round “bye.” Simply put, to hang on to that highly desired top-four-in-the-league spot, they’ve got to keep winning. The league’s heavy hitters are going to start facing off soon and the conference standings will be jumbled every weekend. To stay above that fray, the Lady Dawgs need to take care of their own business. And tomorrow night in Nashville, that business is about to pick up.

Georgia and Vandy take to the court tomorrow night in The Music City at 9:00 PM (Eastern). CSS cable subscribers can watch the game live on the tube…everyone else has the option of checking it out online at ESPN3.com. (ESPN3 is really a terrific service…do consider giving it at try if you haven’t already.) As always, J.D. will be at courtside calling all the action for you local Georgia Bulldog Radio Network affiliate station. We’ll have a Georgia/Vandy game recap and web links posted right here sometime late…seriously late since it’s a 9:00 PM start…tomorrow night.

Click here for the official Georgia/Vanderbilt game notes.

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

Click here to see the complete commodore roster.

Rebels Reduced To Rubble: Georgia – 61, Ole Miss – 47

mike — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:21:39 +0000

Blowout. And the announcers on CSS really could’ve dialed it back about Georgia’s second-half performance. When you’re winning by a million points at halftime and your rotation is thin as onion skin thanks to injuries, you can mail it in the rest of the way and get your “W.” It’s okay. Let’s go to the official game recap, courtesy of Georgiadogs.com:

No. 15 Georgia raced to a 30-2 lead and never looked back en route to a 61-47 victory over Ole Miss here on Sunday afternoon.

“It would hard to imagine us playing much better out of the gate than we did today,” Andy Landers said. “They moved. They passed. They cut. They caught. They shot. They defended. They crashed the boards and rebounded. You really couldn’t ask for your basketball team to play any better than we did in the first half.”

Three Lady Bulldogs posted double-doubles – and career-best rebound tallies. Anne Marie Armstrong scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Khaalidah Miller chipped in 13 points and 11 boards and Meredith Mitchell contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds for Georgia (16-4, 5-2 SEC).
Jasmine Hassell added 11 points, and Erika Ford posted nine points and seven boards in 24 minutes of action.

Tia Faleru led Ole Miss (12-8, 2-5 SEC) with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Five different Lady Bulldogs scored on the first five possessions as Georgia opened up an 11-2 lead just 3:37 into the game. Armstrong opened the scoring with a short jumper, followed by additional jumpers from Hassell and Mitchell, a three from Miller and a jumper by Ford.

Georgia eventually scored on its first eight trips to the offensive end and expanded the lead to 18-2 during that run.

The score bulged to 30-2 before Ole Miss finally notched its second field goal on a stickback by Nikki Byrd with 6:32 remaining. The teams matched buckets for the remainder of the period before the Lady Bulldogs finished the half by matching their largest lead at 43-15 on an Armstrong layup off a nifty assist from Mitchell.

Georgia scored a season-low 18 second-half points after the game’s outcome was all but decided.

The Lady Bulldogs again played without Jasmine James and Krista Donald, who are nursing knee injuries.

“The thing you don’t have to worry about with this team and the position we’re in with injuries and depth is that they are not going to pace themselves,” Landers said. “They’re not going to worry about how they’re going to feel late in the game. They really go out there and pour it all down the funnel from the opening tip. The result of that is that we’ve been able to jump people and get very good early leads. We may lose a little of that as the game goes on but we still play hard and we defend well.”

Georgia travels to Nashville. to take on Vanderbilt on Thursday at 9:00 PM ET. The game will be televised regionally on CSS.

The Lady Bulldogs will be road warriors once again next Thursday night as they travel to Nashville and take on Vandy. Nashville is right up there with Starkville when it comes to places where things have a way of sometimes not going quite right for Georgia…so it sure would be nice to get some of our injured kids back for this one. We’ll have a Georgia/Vanderbilt preview posted right here sometime Tuesday night.

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