ATHENS -- In the SEC, with Tennessee being Tennessee, second place is key. That’s why Georgia played so frenetically in a dominant 69-51 win over No. 19 Kentucky on Thursday night.
Not only did the Lady Bulldogs (20-6, 10-3) keep sole possession of second place in the SEC, they created a little cushion over the Wildcats (19-7, 8-5) and increased the odds that they’ll enter the SEC tournament in the opposite bracket from Tennessee.
“We were hungry because we knew what we were playing for,” sophomore guard Jasmine James said. “We really wanted to come out tonight and try to secure that second-place spot.”
Georgia completed a season sweep of Kentucky with its third win over a ranked opponent and takes some momentum to Knoxville for Monday’s showdown against No. 4 Tennessee. The Lady Bulldogs need one win in their final three games to secure a first-round bye in the SEC tournament.
Andy Landers who got to 20 wins for the 26th time in 32 years at Georgia wrote “we can outhustle them” on the board before the game, and then watched his team do just that.
“They started strong and stayed strong for 40 minutes,” said Landers. “… It’s a mindset. We’re not talking about being the biggest, strongest, quickest, none of that. We’re just talking about hustling, getting to more loose balls, tipping more balls, deflecting more balls, running back faster, and yeah, I think tonight we did that.”
James set the tone early, with pigtails flying. The sophomore guard helped the Lady Bulldogs force the tempo with 10 first-half points as Georgia took command of the game early and kept it throughout. She finished with 14 points, one of five Lady Bulldogs to score in double figures.
Jasmine Hassell had her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Meredith Mitchell scored a season-high 16 points, including 11 in the first half. Her 3-pointer with 49 seconds left in the first half gave Georgia a 38-22 lead at halftime.
The previous two games against Kentucky -- both Georgia wins -- had been decided by a total of three points. The Lady Bulldogs showed no interest in another close contest. They used a 12-2 run late in the first half to open a 14-point lead.
Kentucky cut it to 13 points with 7:27 left on a reverse layup by the SEC’s leading scorer Victoria Dunlap. But Georgia answered with a three-point play by Porsha Phillips and never looked back.
Georgia held Dunlap (17.2 ppg), last year’s SEC player of the year, to four points in the first half. She finished with 14 points, but on 14 shots. As a team, Kentucky shot a season-low 28 percent from the floor.
“This past week all we’ve been talking about is instead of just defending teams, actually trying to disrupt teams,” James said. “Get in the passing lanes and make them take shots they typically wouldn’t take or wouldn’t like to take.”
