ATLANTA – The UWG women's basketball team gave the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets all they wanted in Wednesday's non-conference action at McCamish Pavilion, falling 68-60 to the Power Four opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
West Georgia (2-2) got off to a slow start before outscoring the Yellow Jackets, 38-24 in the second half and falling by eight to Georgia Tech (3-2) who had the edge from the field, behind the arc, and from the free throw line.
"I'm proud of our effort in the second half, but we've got to grow as a team and be able to play a complete game," said head coach Joanna Reitz. "We dug ourselves a big hole in the first half, but we never quit and we kept fighting. To hold Georgia Tech to 24 points in the second half is really impressive, and to get 16 offensive rebounds."
The Wolves had three players in double-figures led by 16 from Grace O'Gara and Asia Donald while Destiny Jones added 12.
"We've got a lot of different weapons on the floor, we shared the ball. You know, we had 16 assists on 24 made field goals. That's really, really good. That's good ball movement, and we've got multiple players who can get to the basket and multiple people who can hit shots, so I was pleased with that," Reitz continued.
Despite the length from Georgia Tech, UWG held their own on the glass with 40 rebounds to 42 by Tech. UWG had the edge, 16-15, in offensive rebounds. Jasmine Jones led the Wolves in rebounding with seven.
"Our players are tough, they're resilient, they stuck together, and stuck to the gameplan, and we ended up in a position to win it in the end," Reitz added.
The Yellow Jackets made eight of their first ten shot attempts, building a 19-8 lead by the game's first media. By the quarter's end, Tech had hit 10 field goals and built a 25-12 lead.
Grace O'Gara quickly scored the first four points of the second in just 1:05 of game time. But over the remainder of the period, UWG would score just six points and commit six of their eight first half turnovers.
Georgia Tech would cool off from the field, but would still shoot 65 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, and led 44-22.
O'Gara led the Wolves at the break with six points while Asia Donald scored five.
In the second half, UWG came out with a renewed intensity, opening on a 9-0 run thanks to back-to-back baskets from Destiny Jones, free throws from Asia Donald, and a trey from Jasmine Jones. GT took a timeout with 7:06 left in the third quarter after UWG cut it to a 44-31 deficit.
A corner three from Donald at the 4:39 mark of the third put her over double-digits while also cutting the GT lead to single digits for the first time since the 3:45 mark of the opening quarter.
By the time the third quarter clock ran out, UWG had outscored Tech 21-13 in the period and trailed by a 12-point margin at 57-45.
Tech would respond with a 6-0 run out of the gate in the fourth quarter, and stretch their advantage to as much as 18 before the Wolves clawed back one more time.
At the 2:05 mark, Donald hit a layup that got the Wolves within six and then O'Gara made it a five-point game at the charity stripe. The Jackets hit a three with just over a minute to play to make it an eight-point game and account for the final margin.
O'Gara led the way in the assist column as well with eight while Sydne Tolbert had five.
West Georgia now returns home next week, hosting Western Carolina on Tuesday, November 25 in a 2 p.m. game at The Coliseum.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- O'Gara's 16 points was a career-high, besting last year's mark which also came against Georgia Tech. She has played in McCamish Pavilion twice now, averaging 15.5 points per game in those two games.
