Georgia women’s basketball red-hot, Georgia Tech transfer keys win streak
Georgia women’s basketball fourth-year coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, aka, “Coach Abe,” just needed a fighting chance this season.
That chance came in the form of having enough name, image and likeness money to secure transfers like Dani Carnegie and Rylie Theuerkauf, while developing upcoming talent like sophomores Trinity Turner and Mia Woolfolk.
Carnegie, a former Grayson High School star, scored 32 points in a win over Ole Miss last Sunday and 31 against Arkansas on Thursday before pouring in 19 in an upset victory at No. 11 Kentucky on Saturday.
The Lady Bulldogs, playing with the discipline and toughness Abrahamson-Henderson’s teams are noted for, could be on the verge of a Top 25 breakthrough on the heels of this three-game win streak.
No doubt, after starting the season 14-0, UGA served further notice this could be a special season with the 72-67 road win at Kentucky — the Wildcats’ first home loss of the season.
“I keep telling them how good they are, they’re very young,” Abrahamson-Henderson said, noting that Carnegie, Turner and Woolfolk, the team’s top three scorers, are indeed just sophomores.
“They’re super young, but they are super talented. We just have to keep getting better and better every day in practice.”
Carnegie, a transfer from Georgia Tech who won the ACC’s Sixth Woman of the Year last season, also had eight assists in the victory over Kentucky, while Woolfolk recorded the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
The Lady Bulldogs improved 18-3 overall and 4-3 in SEC play, marking the best start to a season for the tradition-rich program since the 2017-18 season.
It’s a team that plays with the fire the no-nonsense Abrahamson-Henderson is known for, dating back to her power forward playing days under Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coaches Andy Landers at Georgia (1986-88) and C. Vivian Stringer at her home state school of Iowa (1988-90).
The more recent history, however, was not so impressive; the start of the NIL era was not kind to Georgia women’s basketball, which suffered back-to-back losing seasons of 12-18 in 2023-2024 and 13-19 in 2024-2025.
Abrahamson-Henderson proved her coaching skills her first season at Georgia, leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 22-12 mark and second-round NCAA tourney appearance in 2022-23.
Per one UGA athletic insider, this marks the first season at Georgia where Abrahamson-Henderson had “competitive” NIL dollars to work with, as the Lady Bulldogs’ top 5-ranked transfer class indicates.
Carnegie’s impressive jump from last season — from 12.9 points per game for the Yellow Jackets to 19.6 points per game for UGA — has been key to Georgia exceeding preseason expectations, when it was projected to finish 12th in the SEC.
Turner’s growth has also been pivotal, as the former SEC All-Freshman team selection is leading the Lady Bulldogs with 36 steals and 97 assists while scoring 12.2 points per game.
It was Turner hitting two pressure-packed free throws with 20 seconds left after Kentucky had cut the UGA lead to 66-62.
Theuerkauf, a junior transfer from Wake Forest, hit another pair of free throws with 14 seconds left in Lexington — her 18th and 19th points of the game — to extend the Georgia lead en route to the victory.
The Georgia win snapped what had been a three-game losing streak to Kentucky and figures to get UGA serious consideration for what would be its first Associated Press Top 25 ranking since Abrahamson-Henderson’s first season in Athens.
Two of Georgia’s three losses this season came to No. 2 South Carolina and No. 6 LSU, while the other was to No. 18 Ole Miss on Jan. 1 — a loss UGA avenged last Sunday in Athens, 82-59.
The Lady Bulldogs hope to maintain the momentum of their three-game win streak against No. 23 Alabama at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We’ve worked really hard to make the changes necessary to get to this point,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “In this league, you have to keep making changes.”
About the Author
Mike is in his 10th season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 25 years of CFB experience. Mike is a Heisman Trophy voter and former Football Writers President who was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
