The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team has moved on to the WNIT quarterfinals after beating Middle Tennessee State Thursday evening at McCamish Pavilion by a 70-57 score.
Four things to know about the Yellow Jackets’ postseason run.
Up next
Tech plays Alabama in the quarterfinals Sunday at 2 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. Coach MaChelle Joseph said that the team had been hoping that it would draw the Crimson Tide, to whom the Jackets lost 67-65 on Dec. 17 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Jackets were 11-for-22 from the free-throw line in the loss, part of a season-long pattern of misadventures from the stripe.
“It’s one of those things where you’re hungry for a rematch,” Joseph said.
After the Jackets were eliminated from ACC Tournament play with a record of 17-14, Joseph told the team that it could be 26-5 if it had shot better from the line, and that players are determined to try to live up to that estimation in the WNIT. With the three wins in the WNIT, Tech is now 20-14, recording the ninth 20-win season in Joseph’s tenure.
Alabama is 22-13, but 10 of its 22 wins have come against teams with an RPI of 200 or lower.
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2-0 against the Blue Raiders
The win over MTSU was a rematch of the Jackets’ 61-60 win in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Dec. 22. In the first game, ACC freshman of the year Francesca Pan was held to eight points and turned the ball over four times. Joseph said the team put in specific sets to counter MTSU’s aggressive defensive play and face guarding and get her free in space.
“She couldn’t touch the ball (in the first game),” Joseph said. “She wanted to help the team.”
Pan dropped 18 points Thursday, all in the first half, to help the Jackets to leads of 27-9 at the end of the first quarter and 34-20 at halftime. She has scored 48 points in Tech’s three WNIT games.
“She can hit 3’s but she’s not just a 3-point shooter,” Joseph said. “She’s a rebounder, she can post up, she can attack off the bounce. I think she showed her full skillset in that first quarter.”
Pan has some frustration she can likely release against Alabama, as well. In the first game, she scored eight points on 3-for-12 shooting, playing just 15 minutes with foul trouble.
In that game Zaire O’Neil led with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting to go with six rebounds. O’Neil leads Tech in scoring at 12.4 points per game.
Defensive improvement
Tech has held its three WNIT opponents – Jacksonville, UCF and Middle Tennessee State – under 60 points. That’s the first time Tech has done that since December, when the Jackets beat Georgia State, Mercer and Appalachian State under 60.
“I think our defensive presence is getting much better,” Joseph said.
After Alabama
If the Jackets can beat Alabama, they would face the winner of Washington State-Iowa, which takes place at 3 p.m. ET in Iowa, in the WNIT semifinals. The game would be either next Wednesday or Thursday.
Tech is in the WNIT quarterfinals for the first time since 2000. The Jackets won a predecessor of the WNIT, the National Women’s Invitational Tournament, in 1992.
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