As it seems to happen so often in this series, when it came time to make critical plays late, Georgia made them all happen.
The No. 24 Bulldogs got a career-high 24 points and a key steal late from Shacobia Barbee, along with a couple of game-clinching baskets on a tough shooting night to beat Georgia Tech 64-57 in a women’s basketball game Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.
It’s Georgia’ s fourth consecutive victory against the Lady Jackets, eighth in the past 10 and 33rd in 37 meetings.
An Aaliyah Whiteside steal and fastbreak layup brought the Yellow Jackets to within 53-52 with 3:39 left in the game. But 18 seconds later, Tiaria Griffin stepped to the 3-point arc and made her only shot in eight attempts to put the Bulldogs (4-0) back up four.
Shortly after, with the Georgia lead back to 2, it was Marjorie Butler who answered quickly, nailing a jumper from the right wing to push it back to 58-54 at the 2:00 mark.
And, one minute later, Barbee hounded Georgia Tech’s Kaela Davis in the corner, snatching a clean steal and then getting fouled. When Merritt Hempe hit a layup on the ensuing possession to make it 60-54 with 35 seconds left, the lead was too much for one final push by Georgia Tech (3-1).
It wasn’t just one play that made the difference for the Bulldogs; it was a succession of them. And it seemed that, no matter what came before, those all went Georgia’s way.
“That (Griffin) could shake it off and knock down a three late was huge,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said. “That Marjorie could come across the screen at the top of the zone and knock down the jumper was huge.”
Those shots weren’t going down often for the Bulldogs, who made just 36 percent overall and 26 percent on 3-pointers against Georgia Tech’s strong zone defense. But the Yellow Jackets were even just a little worse, firing 34 percent overall and 16 percent from beyond the arc.
Georgia took advantage at the free-throw line, where the Bulldogs shot 19 of 21 (91 percent), while Georgia Tech could only hit 12 of 19 (63 percent).
The Yellow Jackets’ difficulties putting the ball into the basket were frustrating for coach MaChelle Joseph, who didn’t recognize the offense she saw in this one.
“We had one more field goal than Georgia; we lost the game at the free-throw line,” Joseph said. “That’s a big difference in the game. When you come into games like this, you’ve got to make free throws and layups.
“You can’t play a top-25 team and miss layups and free throws. … We didn’t have an urgency.”
Davis scored a team-high 20 points for Georgia Tech. Krista Donald had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
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