UGA Women’s Basketball: Georgia Faces South Carolina in SEC Semifinals

 

 

 

• The Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball team plays No. 1-ranked South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the 2020 SEC Tournament this Friday at noon ET. Eric Frede and Tamika Catchings will call the action on the SEC Network.
• Georgia, the No. 9 seed, defeated No. 8 seed Alabama, 68-61, on Thursday. The Lady Bulldogs led for nearly 30 minutes on their way to the fifth win in the last seven games this season.
• Redshirt-junior center Jenna Staiti continued her impressive pace. The Cumming, Ga., native scored 20 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 7 blocks against Alabama. It marked her fourth-straight 20-point game and her eighth consecutive contest in double figures.
• Staiti is averaging 20.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per matchup over her last eight games. She has also hit 50.8 percent (60-of-118) from the field and 88.9 percent (40-of-45) from the free-throw line during this current stretch. Thursday’s performance against Alabama marked Staiti’s sixth double-double of the year. She only had one double-double in her first two collegiate seasons combined.
• Freshman guard Chloe Chapman played arguably her best game of the season on Thursday. She scored a career-best 8 points to go along with 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Chapman, who drew her fourth start of the year after taking the place of the injured Que Morrison, played a career-high 38 minutes against Alabama.
• Junior guard Gabby Connally scored in double figures for the fourth-straight game with her 16 points against Alabama.

This marks the third time in the last four years that Georgia will meet South Carolina in the SEC tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs have lost 11-straight games against the Gamecocks, including four in a row in the SEC tournament.

Georgia, which leads the all-time series 33-18, last beat South Carolina on Jan. 13, 2013 — a 42-40 victory in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs’ last win against South Carolina in a SEC tournament game came in the first round of the 2011 tournament, when they won 66-34.

Georgia is looking for its second SEC tournament semifinals appearance in five seasons under head coach Joni Taylor. The last such appearance came in 2018.

Taylor is just two wins shy of 100 career head coaching victories. Georgia is three wins away from reaching the 1,000-victory mark as a program.

Georgia’s strength of schedule was ranked No. 13 nationally entering this year’s SEC tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs have played six games against the current top-10 teams in the country. When the ball tips off on Friday, Georgia will become the only squad in the nation to play No. 1 South Carolina twice and also play No. 2 Baylor.

The Lady Bulldogs have three wins against teams with a top-40 RPI. Georgia defeated Virginia Tech, 77-72, in November and beat Arkansas and LSU (both on the road) during SEC play.

Eight of Georgia’s 13 losses have come against teams with an RPI of No. 25 or higher.

The Lady Bulldogs are one of the hottest teams in SEC after winning five of their last seven games this year. Georgia has played particularly well on the road, with four SEC road victories and a pair of neutral site wins against Virginia Tech and Butler.

Georgia’s only two defeats during this current seven-game stretch have come against top-20 squads Kentucky and Texas A&M.

Georgia is 49-36 (.576) all-time in the SEC Tournament and has won the title on four occasions (1983, 1984, 1986 and 2001). This is the fourth time the Lady Bulldogs have earned a No. 8 seed. Georgia’s best finish as a No. 8 seed came in 1993, when the Lady Bulldogs defeated No. 1 seed Tennessee before falling to Vanderbilt in the finals.

Georgia redshirt-junior center Jenna Staiti enters the tournament as one of the most improved players in the conference. She has scored in double figures in seven-straight games, with five 20-plus point scoring efforts.

Staiti’s success at the free-throw line is also remarkable. After shooting 61.4 percent from the line last season, she has improved that total by 26-percent, knocking in 63-of-72 (87.5) free-throw shots this season.

Junior guard Que Morrison was named to the 2020 SEC All-Defensive Team in a vote by league coaches. The Riverdale, Ga., native was in one of the best stretches of her career before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against Texas A&M on Feb. 20. Morrison started 16-straight games and scored in double figures in seven conference contests, including a pair of 18-point efforts against Mississippi State and Alabama.

Throughout her career, Morrison has been known as Georgia’s defensive stopper and routinely guards the opponent’s best scorer night-in and night-out. Morrison has totaled 95 steals in her career and had three or more takeaways in four contests this season.

Morrison had successful surgery on Tuesday, Feb. 25 to repair a torn labrum in her right shoulder. She suffered the injury in the first half against Texas A&M and had to leave the game immediately. Before the contest against the Aggies, Morrison was finally back to her freshman form when she was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2017-18.

The Lady Bulldogs have played arguably their best basketball of the season in the last few weeks. Georgia has won four of its last six games, including an impressive 73-56 win against LSU, a pair of victories against Florida and an overtime thriller against Alabama. Jenna Staiti is Georgia’s leading scorer over the last seven games, averaging 20.3 points per contest.

Georgia is closing in on a couple of important milestones as it prepares for the SEC tournament. Head coach Joni Taylor is just three wins shy of recording the 100th victory of her head-coaching career. As a program, the Lady Bulldogs are also just four wins away from reaching the 1,000-victory mark. They are looking to join Tennessee as the lone SEC programs to reach that feat.

Georgia has four SEC road wins and a pair of neutral site victories against non-conference foes Virginia Tech and Butler. The Lady Bulldogs’ success in those four league victories can be credited to an impressive defensive performance. Georgia held each of those opponents below 60 points, including a season-low 55-point effort from Arkansas. Those teams averaged just 51 points per game in losses to the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Bulldogs put together a remarkable performance against one of the nation’s top offensive teams on Jan. 23 at Arkansas. Not only was it a season low in points and 31 below the team’s average, but the Razorbacks also committed a season-high 20 turnovers. After being down 43-36 in the third quarter, Georgia went on a 19-2 run and outscored Arkansas 28-12 the rest of the way for the win.

As a team, Georgia has hit 80 percent or better from the free-throw line nine times this season. After finishing the 2018-19 campaign ranked 12th in the SEC in free-throw percentage, Georgia is currently ranked third with a 72.8 percent clip.

Georgia guard Shaniya Jones provided a much-needed offensive spark for the Lady Bulldogs, tallying back-to-back double-figure scoring games in wins against Auburn and Arkansas. Jones saw a considerable uptick in playing time, seeing the floor for a career-high 21 minutes against Auburn and then 20 minutes at Arkansas.

Earlier this year, it was quite the debut for her on Dec. 15 against Furman. Jones came off the bench to score 11 quick points in the second quarter, knocking down four of her first five shots in the period. Jones finished with 20 points in just 14 minutes of action against the Paladins. It marked the most points for a Georgia player in a debut since Tasha Humphrey scored 25 to begin her career in 2004.

Georgia signees Sarah Ashlee Barker and Zoesha Smith are each having strong finishes to their prep careers. Barker recently led Spain Park (Ala.) High School to a win against top-ranked Hoover with her 35-point effort. Her team recently defeated Hoover once again to earn the Class 7A state title. Smith, from Brunswick, Ga., was most recently named the GACA Region 2-6A Player of the Year and has led Glynn Academy this season with 20.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.

Georgia has won 10 games against top-25 opponents during head coach Joni Taylor‘s tenure. Georgia’s last win against a top-10 team in Athens came in Coach Taylor’s first season, when the Lady Bulldogs knocked off No. 10 Mississippi State, 47-43.

Georgia’s roster this season features a pair of two-sport athletes — the Lady Bulldogs’ first since ESPN-star Maria Taylor played both basketball and volleyball. Freshman Chloe Chapman plays soccer and basketball, while senior Stephanie Paul will compete on the track team, with her specialty being the discus.

All-Time Lady Bulldog Two-Sport Athletes
Tina Price — 1975-78 — Women’s basketball/Tennis
Donna Noonan – 1975-77 – Women’s basketball/Golf
Beth Timmons – 2000 – Women’s basketball/Swimming
Maria Taylor – 2007 — Women’s basketball/Volleyball
Chloe Chapman – present – Women’s basketball/Soccer
Stephanie Paul – present – Women’s basketball/Track (discus)

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