ATLANTA - The short trip to the Capital City ended in defeat for the UWG women's basketball team as the Wolves fell to Georgia Tech, 88-53 at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.
West Georgia (0-3) fought valiantly against the bigger lineup of Atlantic Coast Conference foe Georgia Tech (3-0), scoring more points than any GT opponent thus far in 2024-25, but the length and size of Georgia Tech was the difference in the end.
"Playing these type of opponents can expose some things you need to work on, because any mistake we make they can capitalize on, and they did," said head coach Joanna Reitz after West Georgia's first meeting against Georgia Tech since 1985. "We have a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and the job they're doing and the recruits they bring in, but our effort was good and we fought for 40 minutes."
The Yellow Jackets defense forced 24 turnovers which turned into 27 points the other way, and blocked seven shots, making it hard for UWG's offense.
But still, the Wolves had some bright spots as Grace O'Gara got out of her two game slump by dropping 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
"She's capable of that night in and night out, and we've been waiting on her to have a breakout game," Reitz said of her sophomore guard. "She plays fearless, she plays confident, and she did a great job, so I think that definitely gets her confidence going and we need that from her."
Destiny Jones scored in double-figures for the third straight game to begin her UWG career and was also extremely efficient, shooting 4-of-5 from the field and adding four points at the free throw line. Also for the third consecutive game, even against the bigger lineup of a Power Four opponent, K'Nari Holliday pulled down eight rebounds.
Neither team was fast out of the gate as there were only 15 combined points in the opening seven minutes, but Georgia Tech found their footing on their home floor by the end of the quarter, opening up a 19-8 lead after 10 minutes.
Tech would then score the first 10 points of the second quarter to push their lead to 21 before Jones and O'Gara combined for a 7-0 run to get it back to 14. The Jackets quickly responded to get the advantage back up over 20, but an and-one at the end by senior Zuriyah Davis made it an 18-point game at the half.
The third quarter would be UWG's most productive as they shot over 40 percent and scored 17 points in the period with O'Gara, Jones, and Mykah Anderson combining to score all 17 points in the quarter.
Georgia Tech would get up by as much as 39 in the final quarter and were led by their star freshman Dani Carnegie who finished with 15.
Also of note on the box score for UWG was Davis finishing with eight points while Anderson finished with seven and a team-high three steals.
"Mykah (Anderson) is a lot of times tasked with guarding the opponent's best player and she did a great job tonight, and she hit two threes on offense, so I thought she played a great game," Reitz added.
O'Gara led the Wolves in the assist column, dishing out three in the loss.
Following the three-game road swing to start the Wolves' first Division I season in program history, UWG is finally set to come home to The Coliseum next week, hosting Florida A&M on Wednesday, November 20 at 7 p.m.
"We're excited. We love our fans and West Georgia is a great place to play, and we're ready for a home game after three straight on the road," Reitz noted while looking ahead to next week's contest against FAMU. "It's our Division I debut at home, and we'll be ready to roll on Wednesday."
Tickets are available at uwgathletics.com/tickets.
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