Ga. Tech women advance to Sweet 16

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Sydney Wallace is going to miss Carmichael Arena. But she can look forward to coming back and playing North Carolina here over the next three years.

Wallace, a freshman wing, enjoyed her second big scoring effort on the Tar Heels’ home court, hitting for a game-high 23 points Tuesday night to lead Georgia Tech to a 76-64 victory over Georgetown in the second round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

For the first time in program history, the Yellow Jackets (26-8) will advance to the regionals, where they will play undefeated Baylor, the tournament’s top seed, on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I’m just thrilled for my players,” Georgia Tech coach MaChelle Joseph said. “It’s been a long time, way overdue, for Georgia Tech to be in the Sweet 16.”

Wallace couldn’t match her hot shooting of Sunday, when she lit up Sacred Heart for 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-8 on 3-pointers.

But she was good enough, going 9-of-20 from the field, 5-of-14 on 3-point shots.

“I just came out here with confidence, stepping up with my senior leaders and playing my role,” Wallace said.

“Shooters are shooters,” Georgetown coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “I think she got a lot of confidence Sunday. We knew when [No.] 23 came off the bench, she was going to be a shooter.”

Wallace got plenty of help from three seniors, with guard Metra Walthour adding 15 points and three 3-pointers, 6-foot-5 center Sasha Goodlett powering her way inside to 14 points and 11 rebounds, and forward Chelsea Regins coming off the bench to get 13 points.

Walthour also led the defensive effort on Georgetown’s All-Big East guard, Sugar Rodgers.

Rodgers scored all of her team-high 12 points in the second half, but she had to work for them. She shot only 4-of-19, 1-of-8 on 3-pointers, and came up well short of her 18.7 scoring average.

“We wanted to throw a lot of different looks at her and deny her the ball,” Walthour explained. “I thought it was a good team effort.”

Joseph said the coaching staff saw on film that Rodgers liked to go to her left to get shots.

“We took away her left hand and forced her to go right, and she wasn’t able to get as many shots off,” Joseph said.

It didn’t matter that Tech’s usual scoring leader, sophomore guard Tyaunna Marshall, got in early foul trouble and scored only two points for the second consecutive game.

The Jackets took control late in the half when Goodlett found some room to operate inside. The Hoyas (23-9) led 21-20 before Goodlett tallied seven of the next 10 points. On back-to-back plays she converted lob passes over a smaller Georgetown defender in the low post, and Tech eventually stretched the lead to 37-27 on Wallace’s short jumper off the transition with 1:00 left in the half.

The Hoyas managed to cut the deficit to six by intermission when Tia Magee hit a jumper, and Rubylee Wright came up with a steal and layup with 9.2 seconds remaining in the half.

But Regins made a jumper, and Dawnn Maye added two free throws to return the lead to 10, and the Hoyas never got within single digits in the final 12 minutes.