University of Georgia
Kentucky
Georgia Wins Decisively Over #19 Kentucky, 69-51
February 17, 2011 | Women's Basketball
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Feb. 17, 2011
ATHENS, Ga. --- Five Lady Bulldogs scored double digits as Georgia got an early lead and never fell behind in a 69-51 win over SEC rival Kentucky inside Stegeman Coliseum, improving their home record to 12-1 on the season.
Porsha Phillips (14 points, 16 rebounds) and Jasmine Hassell (13 points, 11 rebounds) earned double-doubles, while Meredith Mitchell, Jasmine James and Khaalidah Miller helped propel the Lady Bulldogs with their double-digit scoring. Tamika Willis also banked in a shot to help Georgia improve to 3-0 against ranked teams this season and a 34-12 overall record against the Wildcats.
"I was impressed tonight," said head coach Andy Landers. "Our players were on point when the game started. We started turning them over right away, running the floor and cashing in with the basket. We had an all-around good effort offensively, defensively and on the points of emphasis we discussed."
The Lady Bulldogs got off to an early lead when James banked in a two-pointer on the first possession of the game. Within five minutes the Lady Bulldogs extended the lead to five when James, Hassell and Phillips combined to score 10 points. At the eight-minute mark, Miller hit a big three-pointer followed by a runaway lay-up by James, giving the Lady Bulldogs' a 23-14 lead with just under eight minutes left in the first half.
The Wildcats struggled holding onto the ball in the first half, giving the ball over 12 times, while Georgia only turned it over only six times. Kentucky had trouble finding the basket and ended the half with a 30 percent shooting percentage. Georgia went into halftime with a 16-point lead, the largest advantage of the first half.
"We just defended well tonight," said Landers. "It's hard for the other team to score when they are being defended the way we defended. I want to give our defense the credit that it deserves because they contained, stopped the penetration and didn't allow Kentucky to hit the three ball much on us. Kentucky likes to turn you over and run, but we didn't let that happen much tonight, and it was a game that didn't develop much offensively for them."
Coming out of halftime, the Lady Bulldogs held onto their lead and never looked back. The Wildcats' closest margin was 13 and Georgia's largest lead increased to 20 with 1:22 left on the clock.
With the win tonight, Georgia improves to 20-6 on the season, making it the 26th 20-win campaign during Andy Landers' 32 seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs are also 10-3 in SEC play and in sole possession of second place.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to action on Monday when they travel to Knoxville to play Tennessee in an ESPN2 nationally televised contest.
Georgia will host Auburn next Thursday for its last home game. Reserved seat tickets for the Lady Bulldog games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. Those are available at the Butts-Mehre ticket office from 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday and via the internet at www.georgiadogs.com. In addition, tickets will go on sale at the Stegeman Coliseum box office (on the side of arena closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 90 minutes before tip-off.
UGA students, faculty and staff are admitted to all Lady Bulldog games free of charge with a valid UGA Card. Faculty and staff should pick up tickets at the Coliseum box office. Students are admitted to the arena via the entrance to the left of the box office by showing their UGA Card.
