Georgia women claim opener from Oklahoma 62-51

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

ATHENS -- Twenty minutes into the season, Georgia's women's basketball team had a lead but had no control of the lane.

Coach Andy Landers had no intention of letting that last for a full 40.

Forwards Porsha Phillips and Angel Robinson dominated around the basket in the second half, helping the No. 21 Lady Dogs outrebound No. 13 Oklahoma by eight in the final 20 minutes en route to a 62-51 victory Sunday in front of a home crowd of 4,567.

After being badly outrebounded 27-19 in the first half, which led to a 6-0 advantage in second-chance points for the Sooners (0-1), Robinson said it was clear at halftime that they had to change their approach down low.

"Coach [Landers], he got on the post players at the half," said Robinson, who scored nine of her 12 points in the second half. "We don't like when our coach is upset with us. They were crowding me and everything. I give a lot of credit to Porsha because she just came out of nowhere and she was flying like Superman."

Phillips, who averaged 10.5 points and 6.1 rebounds last season, got 10 of her 15 points and seven of her 12 rebounds during the final 20 minutes, helping Georgia (1-0) finish with a 34-24 scoring advantage in the paint.

The biggest change, though, came in offensive rebounding, where Georgia had a 9-4 advantage in the second half after a sluggish start. Phillips and Robinson finished with eight of the team's 11 offensive rebounds.

"We only had two offensive boards at halftime. That's pathetic," Landers said. "I thought Porsha and Angel did a terrific job with that. That, in fact, is how we blew the lead up the first time."

When they did, the Lady Dogs were able to post a 33-20 lead six minutes into the second half on the tail end of a 9-0 run.

That lead would slowly evaporate during the next nine minutes, culminating in a 10-1 Oklahoma run that tied the game 43-43 with 6:52 left.

But a 3-point play by Meredith Mitchell, a Phillips put-back and three more points from Robinson made up an 8-2 run that stretched the lead back to six and Georgia never trailed again. To reclaim the lead after Oklahoma had completed its comeback was a big statement for a team that was 2-7 against ranked opponents last season.

"It showed an ability to redeem ourselves," Landers said, "to not be so frustrated with yourself that you can't buckle in, re-strap everything and redeem yourself."

That was a large part of what the opener was about for a Georgia team that spent all last season unranked for the first time since 1980-81 and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.

It was not the type of season seniors like Robinson and Phillips were used to. Starting the new year with a double-digit win over a top-15 team was exactly how they wanted to begin showing this is a new team.

"Over the summer, we talked about, ‘What do we want to change around? How do we want people to view Georgia basketball?' " Robinson said. "We want to show them what Georgia basketball is all about."

Georgia freshman Jasmine James tied Phillips with a game-high 15 points and added seven rebounds in her collegiate debut. Whitney Hand led Oklahoma with 13 points.