University of Georgia
Ohio State
Lady Bulldogs Rally Past Buckeyes, 67-59
November 19, 2014 | Women's Basketball
|
Shacobia Barbee added 13 points and Krista Donald and Mackenzie Engram chipped in 12 apiece.
Freshman Kelsey Mitchell paced Ohio State with 26 points.
"This is a heckuva win for this team because this team still has a long way to go," Andy Landers said. "We stayed the course defensively when I'm sure we were frustrated offensively. We stayed the course for 40 minutes defensively and we rebounded and when we needed to, we made plays and made shots and made free throws."
Ohio State's 13 3-point field goals equaled the most ever against Georgia, and the Buckeyes' 39 shots from behind the arc represented the most ever versus the Lady Bulldogs.
Georgia trailed by nine points twice in the second half, lastly at 44-35 with 12:16 remaining. The Lady Bulldogs used an 8-0 run to close the gap to one before a Cait Craft three put the Buckeyes back up by four.
Ohio State regained a 45-40 edge before another Georgia surge, this time a 10-0 run that flipped the five-point deficit into a five-point lead. Engram opened the scoring with a layup, followed by a short jumper from Merritt Hempe, a 3-pointer from Griffin and 3-of-4 free throws from Engram.
After Craft hit another 3-pointer, Donald scored on a nifty layup and Engram canned a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:39 remaining to put Georgia up 60-53.
All of Engram's points came in the second half. Making the performance even more meaningful were the 20 family and friends in attendance. Engram's mother, Michelle Zelina, is an Ohio State alum.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with four ties and six lead changes.
Georgia gained the game's first meaningful lead midway through the first half with a 9-0 run that put the Lady Bulldogs up 24-18. Griffin knocked down a 3-pointer at the 9:44 mark, and Barbee followed with back-to-back buckets from behind the arc to give Georgia the six-point lead with 6:10 left in the period.
The Buckeyes then rallied to score the last 10 over the final 5:11 of the half to gain a 28-24 advantage at the intermission.
The Lady Bulldogs missed their final seven shots of the half, and after opening by hitting 6-of-12 shots from the floor, finished the period connecting on just 27.3 of their field goals.
Ohio State did much of its damage from 3-point range. The Buckeyes made 6-of-15 3-pointers - versus 4-of-13 two-point attempts - in the opening 20 minutes.
Mitchell opened the second-half scoring with another 3-pointer that extended Ohio State's run to 13-0 before Donald scored from the right block to finally end the surge.
Georgia will return to action on Sunday when the Lady Bulldogs face Georgia Tech in Atlanta at 2 p.m. That contest will be available via espn3.com.
Georgia will host a pair of home games next week. The Lady Bulldogs will take on Georgia Southern on Tuesday before hosting Colgate on Wednesday. Both contests will tip at 7 p.m.
Single-game reserved seat tickets for Lady Bulldog games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. 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.
Single-game tickets are on sale via georgiadogs.com, by calling 877-542-1231 or in person at the UGA Ticket Office in the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall from 8:30-4:30 on weekdays. In addition, single-game tickets go on sale at the Stegeman Coliseum box office (closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 60 minutes before tip-off of every home game.
Game Notes
- Georgia used the same starting five for the third time in as many games this season, with Shacobia Barbee (63rd career start), Merritt Hempe (38th career start), Krista Donald (36th career start), Tiaria Griffin (26th career start) and Marjorie Butler (eighth career start) getting the nod.
- Tiaria Griffin finished with 16 points, her third double-digit outing of the season and the 26th of her career.
- Shacobia Barbee finished with 13 points, her second double-figure scoring game of the season and the 30th of her career.
- Krista Donald scored 12 points, her second double-figure night of the season and the 22nd of her career.
- Mackenzie Engram finished with 12 points, the first double-digit performance of her career. All of Engram's points came in the second half.
- Engram played in front out approximately 20 family and friends. Her mother, Michelle Zelina, is an Ohio State alum.
