A late scramble by No. 16 Georgia Tech went unrewarded Thursday night. After erasing a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, the Yellow Jackets were outplayed in the extra session and lost to No. 19 Notre Dame 72-66 at McCamish Pavilion.
In the process, Tech let an opportunity to build on its NCAA Tournament résumé slip past and has now lost three of its past four games, all to ranked opponents.
“I think our confidence took a hit,” coach Nell Fortner said. “I think when we had the two losses on the road to N.C. State and Virginia Tech, I think it took a hit. And we’re trying to find it again.”
In the overtime, Notre Dame (20-6 overall, 11-4 ACC) scored the first four points and held the lead the rest of the way. It was the second consecutive overtime game for Tech (19-7, 10-5), which needed an extra period to defeat Clemson on Sunday at home.
In the extra period, the Irish gained a significant edge in a possession that lasted 71 seconds, from the 2:34 mark until 1:23 remained, and ended up expanding their lead from 65-63 to 68-63. In the possession, Notre Dame kept the ball and re-set the shot clock by winning two 50/50 rebounds and then got a basket from guard Dara Mabrey and an and-one free throw.
“I thought Notre Dame made plays down the stretch. They hit some really big shots down the stretch, at the shot clock, at the buzzer,” Fortner said. “We just couldn’t get stops, couldn’t get loose balls – really important big loose balls during that overtime period. I thought we dug ourselves a bit of a hole we dug our way out of it and then just couldn’t score enough.”
In the fourth quarter, the Jackets were down 56-46 to the Irish at the 7:30 mark before an 11-2 run fueled by a pair of 3-pointers by Tech guard Sarah Bates cut the lead to 58-57 with 4:44 to play in regulation. Guard Eylia Love’s layup with 1:35 left tied the game at 59, the first time that the Irish hadn’t been in the lead since late in the first quarter.
Guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen tied the game again with 18 seconds left, scoring on a layup off a hesitation move. A steal by Lahtinen with two seconds left offered the Jackets a chance to win with 1.7 seconds remaining, but Lahtinen’s desperation shot from beyond halfcourt fell short.
Lahtinen led the Jackets with 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting, including 3-for-8 from 3-point range, to go with six assists, four steals and three rebounds. Tech shot 36.5% from the field to Notre Dame’s 42.9%.
“I think halftime, we came out of the locker room and (had) totally different energy than the first half,” Lahtinen said. “But at this level, you have to play the whole game with great energy and just start well. That’s ultimately what it was.”
Fortner was likewise disappointed in her team’s play that led to it being down by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Particularly in a pivotal second quarter, the Jackets were loose with the ball, errant in their shooting and failed to protect the basket on defense. A 13-1 Notre Dame run lifted the Irish into a 30-14 lead with 2:58 left in the half, an advantage that they held until the Jackets’ dash in the fourth quarter.
In the second quarter, after guard Digna Strautmane hit a 3-pointer to put the Jackets ahead 17-13 at the 8:54 mark, Tech scored one point over the next 11 possessions, turning the ball over four times and making mistakes uncharacteristic of a veteran group.
“Bad basketball, that’s what I saw,” Fortner said. “Their zone, they moved really well, and they’re really good. And they’re big. That’s a big team. We just didn’t do a good job taking care of the basketball. I thought we let them make us play on our heels, and the disappointing part is I don’t know why.”
While the Jackets appear to be solidly in the NCAA Tournament, they did lose out on an opportunity in the three losses to make a case to be a top-16 seed, which would enable them to be at home for the first two rounds of the tournament. The loss also dropped the Jackets into a tie for fifth place with North Carolina in the ACC, a similarly costly outcome. The top four teams in the regular season earn a double bye in the conference tournament, while the fifth- through ninth-place teams have a bye for the first round.
“Remember, these are kids,” Fortner said. “They work hard, they give you everything they’ve got every day, but they’re kids, and they have to process things. And we have to circle back around and help them process this a little bit better and understand that we’re still an excellent team and we’ve still got a lot of basketball ahead of us and we’ll do that.”
Said Lahtinen, “Obviously, the teams the last four games have been really great teams. There’s no question about that. But if we want to win the championship, we have to match them and win those games.”
Tech wore pink accented uniforms for the game as it held its annual Play4Kay game as a fundraiser for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The game, played before 3,099 (the second largest home crowd of the season), held additional significance as associate head coach Tasha Butts was diagnosed with breast cancer in November.
Butts, who has yielded coaching duties to chief of staff Micki DeMoss, addressed the crowd at halftime. Butts first asked fans to give a standing ovation to the roughly 30 cancer survivors who shared the court with her, and then implored fans to give to the fund. Tech has partnered with the non-profit, committing to raising $100,000 as part of a $150,000 grant that will be made to Northside Hospital for underserved female cancer patients in the Atlanta area.
Butts spoke about the financial costs of cancer treatment that aren’t always covered by health insurance, and the additional financial burdens created by the physical limitations that cancer can cause.
“It’s a blessing for me to be able to walk into the hospital and do those things, but it’s not about me, it never has been about me,” Butts said. “And I want to use my voice and my name to help those that don’t have it, and that’s what I’m asking you all for.”
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