Georgia Hosts Georgia Southern Before Christmas Break

December 20, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Lady Bulldog Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (7-4) vs. Georgia Southern (5-5)
Friday, Dec. 21 | 1 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) | Athens, Ga.
Radio: Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network - 960 AM in Athens (Jeff Dantzler)
TV: None
Video: SECN+ (Matt Stewart and Mark Slonaker)

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Probable Starters

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Joni Taylor
70-36 (4th year) at UGA
70-36 (4th year) overall
G	0	Taja Cole	10.2	5.7
5-8; RS-Jr.; Richmond, Va./Louisville
G	2	Gabby Connally	11.5	1.5
5-6; So.; San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis HS
G	23	Que Morrison	3.3	3.0
5-7; So.; Riverdale, Ga.
F	3	Stephanie Paul	7.3	5.4
6-1; Jr.; Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples
F	4	Caliya Robinson	14.5	8.5
6-3; Sr.; Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA LADY BULLDOGS		GEORGIA SO. EAGLES
66.3	Scoring	64.8
42.6%	FG%	39.2%
27.3%	3FG%	29.6%
42.6	Rebounds	34.8
16.2	Assists	11.2
6.5	Blocks	1.8
8.3	Steals	7.5
53.9	Scoring Def.	70.4
33.5%	FG% Def.	44.7%
25.5%	3FG% Def.	35.3%
+8.5	Reb. Margin	-5.3
+0.5	T/O Margin	+1.3
1.0	Ast-T/O Ratio	0.7

Georgia Hosts Georgia Southern Before Christmas Break

The Lady Bulldogs return to Stegeman Coliseum one final time before the Christmas break to host Georgia Southern on Friday at 1 p.m. ET. The contest is Georgia's annual 'Tacky Sweater' game with fans encouraged to wear their finest Christmas attire.

Elementary School Day Brings Large Crowd to Stegeman

During Georgia's last game against Lipscomb on Wednesday, more than 7,000 fans packed the arena for the team's annual Elementary School Day. In attendance were 5,200 elementary students from schools in Athens Clarke-County. The young kids helped the Lady Bulldogs claim their largest home crowd since 2012, when Georgia filled the Steg for its game against Tennessee.

Lady Bulldogs Perfect at Home

Georgia enters Friday's game with a perfect 6-0 home record, marking its best start at Stegeman since the 2015 -16 season when the Lady Bulldogs began the year 9-0 at home.

Connally, Paul on Scoring Streaks

Lady Bulldog sophomore guard Gabby Connally has scored in double figures in four-straight games, marking the first time in her career she has hit double digits in scoring in four consecutive contests. Junior forward Stephanie Paul is in the midst of the best four-game stretch of her career with 52 points (13 ppg) and 28 rebounds (7 rpg) over the current four-game span.

Georgia Leads SEC in Defensive Numbers

Georgia's impressive defensive numbers through Coach Joni Taylor's four years with the program have continued. The Lady Bulldogs lead the SEC in several defensive categories, pacing the conference in field-goal percentage defense (33.5%) and 3-point field-goal percentage (25.5%).

Win No. 70 for Coach Taylor

Wednesday's victory against Lipscomb marked head coach Joni Taylor's 70th win at the helm of the program. Coach Taylor is 70-36 overall as head coach since taking the head coaching job before the 2015-16 season.

Scouting Georgia Southern

The Eagles enter Friday's contest on a three-game win streak and most recently defeated Winthrop 64-55 this past Tuesday. Junior guard Alexis Brown was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week after she averaged 21 points per game in two games last week. Brown averages a team-best 18.5 ppg this season.

Much like the Lady Bulldogs, Georgia Southern is a young team and, in fact, is one of just eight squads in NCAA DI to have no seniors on its roster.

Series History Against the Eagles

Georgia owns a 24-9 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1975. The Eagles actually won nine of the first 12 meetings against the Lady Bulldogs from 1975-81. Georgia has won 21-straight in the series since that time and defeated the Eagles, 75-28, in the last meeting between the two programs in 2015. Georgia Southern's 28 points tied an all-time record low for a Georgia opponent.

Georgia Has Led in All Four Losses

In each of Georgia's four losses this season, the Lady Bulldogs have led in the game. Against UCLA, Georgia built a 12-point advantage and led for over 30 minutes. Against Tech, the Lady Bulldogs led by five points, while they erased a 15-point deficit against Maryland to build a two-point advantage late in the second half. Against Villanova the Lady Bulldogs led by seven in the first quarter. In four losses, Georgia was outscored in the fourth quarter, 74-56.

Young Pups

With eight underclassmen and just four upperclassmen, the Lady Bulldogs are the youngest team in the Southeastern Conference. Seven of Georgia's freshmen and sophomores (minus Malury Bates now due to injury) are seeing valuable playing time and are each averaging right at or more than 10 minutes per game.

Lady Bulldogs Add Top Prospects in 2019 Signing Class

The initial signing period was a good one for the Lady Bulldogs as Georgia signed three players who are among some of the best in the nation. Currently, the Lady Bulldogs' 2019 class ranks 14th overall by ESPNW.

Mitchellville, Maryland native and five-star guard Chloe Chapman was the first to ink with Georgia. Chapman is the No. 28 overall recruit and No. 7 point guard according to ESPNW. Later in the week, Georgia announced the signing of five-star forward Javyn Nicholson from Lawrenceville, Georgia. Nicholson is ranked No. 6 among the country's top power forwards. Another Georgia native, Jordan Isaacs from Alpharetta, rounds out Georgia's class. She is a five-star player according to Prospects Nation and No. 14 overall forward according to ESPNW.

Robinson Inching Closer to Blocked Shots Record; Staiti Among SEC Leaders

Georgia's lone senior Caliya Robinson needs just 57 more blocks to break the school record of 297 set by Tawana McDonald during her four-year career from 1998-2002. Robinson is not the only Lady Bulldog shot blocker. Jenna Staiti actually ranks third in the SEC in blocks with 22 total this season.

Cole the SEC Leader in Assists

Redshirt-junior guard Taja Cole is off to a strong start this season as Georgia's third-leading scorer with 10.2 points per game. Cole also leads the SEC in assists with 70 total, an average of 6.4 per contest.

FOLLOW THE LADY BULLDOGS

For more information on the Georgia Lady Bulldogs, follow the team on Twitter (@UGA_WBB), Instagram (@uga_wbb) and Facebook (Facebook.com/UGAWomensBasketball).