WBB Game Notes: No. 16 Georgia Set for Championship Sunday Against No. 7 South Carolina

Sunday, March 7

Greenville, S.C.

2:00 PM

University of Georgia

South Carolina

WBB Game Notes: No. 16 Georgia Set for Championship Sunday Against No. 7 South Carolina

March 06, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes

2021 SEC Tournament Notes
#16/21 Georgia Lady Bulldogs (20-5, 10-5 SEC) vs. #7 South Carolina (21-4, 14-2 SEC)
SEC Championship
Sunday, March 7 | 2 p.m.
Bon Secours Wellness Arena | Greenville, S.C.
SEC Tournament Bracket
Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Jeff Dantzler) 960 AM The REF, WXKT 103.7 FM in Athens
TV: ESPN2 (Courtney Lyle, Carolyn Peck and Steffi Sorensen)
Video Stream: SEC Network +
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com

JONI TAYLOR - HEAD COACH

SIXTH SEASON // RECORD: 118-63 (.652)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2021 SEC Coach of the Year
2021 and 2018 Werner Ladder Naismith National Coach of the Year Semifinalist
Two-time Atlanta Tip-Off Club Georgia College Coach of the Year
2016 Spalding Maggie Dixon National Rookie Coach of the Year
Three WNBA Draft picks
Led Georgia to a 26-7 record in 2017-18, marking the team's most wins in a single season since 2006-07
Georgia hosted the NCAA first and second rounds in Athens for first time since 2003 during the 2017-18 campaign
Six All-SEC honorees and two SEC Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Created the award-winning Beyond Basketball group

No.	Name	PPG	RPG
Georgia Lady Bulldogs Most Recent Starters
2	Gabby Connally	12.1	1.9
G; 5-6; Sr.; San Antonio, Texas
23	Que Morrison	11.4	5.0
G; 5-7; Sr.; Riverdale, Ga.
11	Maya Caldwell	8.7	3.2
G; 5-11; Sr.; Charlotte, N.C.
20	Jordan Isaacs	3.8	3.6
F; 6-0; So.; Alpharetta, Ga.
14	Jenna Staiti	14.7	8.2
C; 6-4; R-Sr.; Cumming, Ga.

Opening Tip Storylines

Georgia advanced to the SEC tournament championship following wins against No. 17 Kentucky in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Texas A&M in the semifinals.
This is Georgia's first SEC finals appearance since 2004. Georgia has won the SEC tournament championship four times (1983, 1984, 1986 and 2001).
Senior center Jenna Staiti recorded her 10th double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 rebounds against Texas A&M. It is the 29th time in the last 34 games she has scored in double figures.
Staiti has recorded three-straight double-doubles, including two in the SEC tournament. Staiti has averaged 21 points and 12.3 rebounds per game over her last three contests this season.
Staiti also blocked six shots against the Aggies. It marked the fifth time this season she has swatted six or more shots.
Junior guard Mikayla Coombs scored a career-high 14 points in the win against Texas A&M.
Senior guard Maya Caldwell scored in double figures for the third-straight game. She has averaged 22 points per game over the last three contests.
With Saturday's win, Georgia clinched its 32nd 20-win season in program history.
Georgia is led by four senior starters -- Caldwell, Gabby Connally, Que Morrison and Staiti. The senior foursome is averaging 56 points per game in the first two SEC tournament contests.
All four of Georgia's seniors have earned their undergraduate degrees and are currently pursuing master's degrees.
Morrison — SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year — is the defensive stopper on the top defensive team in the SEC. Entering the tournament, the Lady Bulldogs were the only conference team to rank in the top-5 of the league in scoring defense (60.1 ppg), field-goal percentage defense (.371), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.276), blocked shots (6.3 per game) and steals (9.0 per game).

Series Breakdown

Series Information vs. No. 2 Seed South Carolina
Overall: Georgia leads, 33-20
In Athens: Georgia leads, 15-6
In Columbia: Georgia leads, 14-8
Neutral Sites: South Carolina leads, 6-4
Current Streak: South Carolina has won 13-straight meetings
Last Meeting in SEC Tournament: Last season -- SC won 89-56 (3/6/20)
Full Series History

SEC Tournament History

• Since the tournament began in 1980, the Lady Bulldogs own a 51-37 overall record. Georgia has won the tournament title four times, with those coming in 1983, 1984, 1986 and 2001.

Joni Taylor Named SEC Coach of the Year

Georgia head coach Joni Taylor -- who led one of the largest single-season turnarounds in school history -- was named the 2021 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year. She has guided her team to an 19-5 record, which includes wins against top-25 teams Tennessee (twice), Arkansas and Kentucky.

Taylor Also a Semifinalist for National Coach of the Year

A day after winning the SEC Coach of the Year honor, Taylor was selected as one of 10 semifinalists for the 2021 Werner Ladder Naismith National Coach of the Year. She is seeking to become Georgia's first National Coach of the Year Award winner since Andy Landers won the honor in 2000. The legendary Landers earned the award four times (1986, 1987, 1996 and 2000).

Exceeding Expectations

Georgia was picked ninth in this year's SEC preseason coaches poll and ultimately finished fourth in the standings. Exceeding expectations is nothing new for Joni Taylor's teams. In five of her six seasons as head coach, her squads have finished ahead of their preseason rankings.

Georgia's SEC Standings Under Joni Taylor

Season Preseason SEC Finish
2015-16	9th	6th
2016-17	12th	8th
2017-18	8th	2nd (tied)
2018-19	4th	7th
2019-20	10th	9th
2020-21	9th	4th

Morrison Healthy and Leading Lady Bulldogs

After suffering a string of injuries in her career, 2021 SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year Que Morrison is finally healthy and making a huge impact for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Riverdale, Ga., native placed on the SEC All-Freshman Team after drawing 32 starts on Georgia's NCAA tournament team.

Then, in her sophomore campaign (2018-19), Morrison missed the first eight games due to a torn meniscus in her left knee. In 2019-20, she had an injury to her foot before the year began. She then suffered a torn labrum in her right shoulder to end her junior campaign midway through SEC play.

This year, not only is Morrison considered the top defensive player in the conference, she is also leading offensively, having scored in double figures in eight-straight games for the first time in her career.

More on Morrison

Morrison is one of the top all-around players in the SEC. The four-year starter ranks in the top-15 among SEC players in assists, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio. In addition to scoring in double figures in eight-straight games, she has scored over 20 points twice this year -- both for the first time in her career.

2 for Threeeee

Senior guard Gabby Connally goes by the nickname '2' to honor her jersey number. The San Antonio native might want to think about changing it to '3' following a pair of impressive shooting performances against Missouri and Tennessee in late February.

After hitting a career-high six 3-pointers to tie her season-best of 29 points at Missouri, Connally made five 3-pointers in the win against Tennessee. She is the first Georgia player since Mary Beth Lycett (Smart) in 2003 to post back-to-back games with five or more 3-pointers against SEC teams.

In the Paint and On The Move

Georgia has been an improved team on the offensive end compared to last season, upping its points per game by nearly 10 points and scoring 80 or more points seven times this year (after only doing so twice last season).

Two reasons for that success include scoring in transition and scoring in the paint. The Lady Bulldogs have outscored their opponents in transition in all but two games and have owned an advantage in the paint in 14 of 25 contests.

Lady Bulldogs Hit 60 percent

Georgia has made over 60 percent from the field twice this season, doing so in games against Mercer and Appalachian State. Prior to this season, Georgia had not shot 60 percent or better in a game since 2009.

Winning on the Road

The Lady Bulldogs are 10-2 away from home this season, including wins in its first three games of the year, marking the first time in school history Georgia has accomplished that feat. Georgia's win at Tennessee was its first in Knoxville since 1996.

Reaching 100

Georgia scored 107 points against Appalachian State on Dec. 22. That total marked the most points by a Georgia team since the 2000-01 campaign and was the first time the Lady Bulldogs have reached the 100-point mark since 2007. The Lady Bulldogs' 95 point effort to end the regular season at Florida was the best offensive output against a SEC team since 2013.

Barker Named SEC Freshman of the Week ... Again

Sarah Ashlee Barker was named SEC Freshman of the Week twice this season. She earned her most recent honor after scoring 11 points, including nine off a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter, against Ole Miss.

Barker has made several key plays for the Lady Bulldogs this season.

With 2:19 left in the overtime period against Georgia Tech, Barker broke open a tie game with a made jump shot to put her team up 65-63. The Lady Bulldogs did not give up the lead the rest of the way en route to a 75-69 win. Barker then hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma, giving Georgia its largest lead of the game at 14.

Georgia Inks Pair of McDonald's All-Americans

Jillian Hollingshead (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Reigan Richardson (Huntersville, N.C.) — two signees in the Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball team's 2021 class — have been named McDonald's All-Americans, the organization announced last week.

It marks the first time in program history Georgia has signed two McDonald's All-Americans in one class. Hollingshead and Richardson are the 11th and 12th McDonald's All-Americans to sign with the Lady Bulldogs, and are the first to commit right out high school since Ronika Ransford in 2010. Current Lady Bulldog Mikayla Coombs was a McDonald's All-American in 2017.

Georgia is one of only three Southeastern Conference schools — joining South Carolina and Arkansas — to have a signee on this year's list.

Georgia Seniors Earn Degrees

Each of Georgia's four seniors -- Gabby Connally, Maya Caldwell, Que Morrison and Jenna Staiti -- will wear the SEC graduate patch this season after earning their degrees. The four Lady Bulldogs are all pursuing master's degrees, with Connally focusing on public administration, Cadwell in non-profit management and leadership, and Morrison and Staiti in sport pedagogy.

Georgia Led League in Honor Roll Selections

The Georgia Lady Bulldogs led all Southeastern Conference basketball teams (women or men) with nine players on the league's Academic Honor Roll this past winter.

Each winter, student-athletes from across the conference are recognized for having a 3.0 GPA or above for either the preceding academic year or a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

Focus on Community

Georgia's Joni Taylor has put a focus on community service during her six seasons as head coach. This past fall, Taylor and her team took action once again by hosting a Water Bottle Drive for the local Boys and Girls Club of Athens. The community stepped up in a big way, donating close to 150 water bottles.

"We were absolutely blown away by the turnout," Taylor said. "COVID-19 has affected all of our lives in so many ways. For the Boys and Girls Club, COVID protocols eliminated the use of water fountains, so the organization needed new, re-fillable water bottles. When our ladies found out about this, they immediately wanted to help. I could not be more proud of their efforts and the efforts of all those who came by today. It's another step forward in making a meaningful impact in our community."