University of Georgia
Ole Miss
Georgia Blasts Ole Miss in Oxford, 61-47
January 22, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2012
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Oxford, Miss. --- No. 15 Georgia raced to a 30-2 lead and never looked back en route to a 61-47 victory over Ole Miss here on Sunday afternoon.
"It would hard to imagine us playing much better out of the gate than we did today," Andy Landers said. "They moved. They passed. They cut. They caught. They shot. They defended. They crashed the boards and rebounded. You really couldn't ask for your basketball team to play any better than we did in the first half."
Three Lady Bulldogs posted double-doubles - and career-best rebound tallies. Anne Marie Armstrong scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Khaalidah Miller chipped in 13 points and 11 boards and Meredith Mitchell contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds for Georgia (16-4, 5-2 SEC).
Jasmine Hassell added 11 points, and Erika Ford posted nine points and seven boards in 24 minutes of action.
Tia Faleru led Ole Miss (12-8, 2-5 SEC) with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Five different Lady Bulldogs scored on the first five possessions as Georgia opened up an 11-2 lead just 3:37 into the game. Armstrong opened the scoring with a short jumper, followed by additional jumpers from Hassell and Mitchell, a three from Miller and a jumper by Ford.
Georgia eventually scored on its first eight trips to the offensive end and expanded the lead to 18-2 during that run.
The score bulged to 30-2 before Ole Miss finally notched its second field goal on a stickback by Nikki Byrd with 6:32 remaining. The teams matched buckets for the remainder of the period before the Lady Bulldogs finished the half by matching their largest lead at 43-15 on an Armstrong layup off a nifty assist from Mitchell.
Georgia scored a season-low 18 second-half points after the game's outcome was all but decided.
The Lady Bulldogs again played without Jasmine James and Krista Donald, who are nursing knee injuries.
"The thing you don't have to worry about with this team and the position we're in with injuries and depth is that they are not going to pace themselves," Landers said. "They're not going to worry about how they're going to feel late in the game. They really go out there and pour it all down the funnel from the opening tip. The result of that is that we've been able to jump people and get very good early leads. We may lose a little of that as the game goes on but we still play hard and we defend well."
Georgia travels to Nashville. to take on Vanderbilt on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be televised regionally on CSS.
Next Sunday, the Lady Bulldogs return home to host No. 9 Tennessee in their first weekend home date since Jan. 1. That game will tip at 5 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The first 500 UGA students will receive "Beat Tennessee" t-shirts, pizza and drinks.
Reserved seat tickets for Lady Bulldog home games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. Those are on sale both at the UGA Ticket Office at the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall from 8:30-4:30 on Monday-Friday and on the internet at www.georgiadogs.com. Tickets will go on sale at Stegeman Coliseum box office (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.
