@GTWBB Hosts #4 Notre Dame in Play4Kay Game

Feb. 18, 2015

The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (14-12, 4-8 ACC) hosts #4/4 Notre Dame (24-2, 11-1 ACC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. on RSN/ESPN3 at McCamish Pavilion for its Play4Kay Pink Game.

All fans are encouraged to wear pink to support Play4Kay’s fight against breast cancer. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free pink t-shirt sponsored by the Atlanta Medical Center.

The first 3,000 tickets for the game will be sold for just $1. At the game, fans can purchase popcorn for $1 and pink lemonade for $4. With every purchase of a pink lemonade, $2 will be donated to the Kay Yow Foundation.  

#5THINGS
– Sophomore Kaela Davis’ 20.2 ppg ranks third in the ACC and she is second in scoring in conference games with 18.9 ppg.
– Davis became the fastest GT player to score 1,000 career points after scoring 24 pts at Notre Dame. She broke the record of 55 games, scoring 1,000 points in 52 games.
– Three Yellow Jackets recorded double-doubles against NC State – Roddreka Rogers, Zaire O’Neil and Katarina Vuckovic
– Head coach MaChelle Joseph became GT’s all-time winningest coach after the Jackets defeated Clemson on Jan. 4. She has a career record of 227-145.
– This is the fourth meeting in school history vs. Notre Dame. ND has won all three meetings.

#PLAY4KAY
The Yellow Jackets will be wearing pink uniforms and pink shoes against Notre Dame to support the Play4Kay initiative. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund, in partnership with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and The V Foundation, is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization committed to being a part of finding an answer in the fight against women’s cancers through raising money for scientific research, assisting the underserved and unifying people for a common cause.

Coach Kay Yow, former North Carolina State University head women’s basketball coach, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and passed away on January 24, 2009, after facing her third bout with the disease. With the creation of the Fund, Coach Yow hoped to raise money to further cutting-edge research conducted by the nation’s top doctors and medical experts to allow more and more cancer patients to have access to experimental drugs and clinical trials. Since the majority of these research projects are privately funded, these researchers desperately need our support in order for them to continue to make strides in finding a cure for cancer. Visit play4kay.org for more information.

a win would…
– Be the 228th win of Coach Joseph’s career, making her 228-146 overall
– Give Georgia Tech its 603rd program win and put Georgia Tech at 603-573 overall over 40 years of women’s basketball
– Be the first win against Notre Dame in program history
– Give Joseph a 1-2 record against Notre Dame
– Be the first win against a top-5 opponent since Tech defeated #2/3 UNX 66-62 on Jan. 22, 2009
– Be the first win against a top-10 opponent since Tech defeated No. 8/8 North Carolina, 71-70, on Jan. 6, 2011
– Be the first win against a top-25 opponent since the Jackets defeated No. 13/11 North Carolina, 94-91, last season on Feb. 6, 2014
– Be the first win against a top-25 opponent on the road since defeating No. 23/RV North Carolina, 56-64 on Feb. 12, 2012

#SWARMSTATS
– Sophomore Kaela Davis became the 28th Yellow Jacket and fastest player at Tech to reach 1,000 points after scoring 24 points at Notre Dame. She played in 52 games – the previous record was 55 games
– Senior Sydney Wallace became the 27th Yellow Jacket to score 1,000 career points after recording 10 points against Lipscomb
– Ten of Tech’s 12 losses were to teams receiving votes or ranked in top 25 polls at the time
– In 14 wins, Tech has averaged a 18.6 margin of victory
– In 14 of Tech’s 26 games, at least one player has scored 20 points or more. In four games, two Yellow Jackets reached the 20 point mark in the same game
– Kaela Davis, Aaliyah Whiteside, Zaire O’Neil and Sydney Wallace are all averaging double-figures
– Davis ranks third in the ACC with her 20.2 ppg average and 28th in the NCAA
– Davis’ 18.9 ppg in ACC play is second in the conference while Roddreka Rogers’ 9.3 rebounds per game is fifth in ACC play
– The Jackets have won the rebounding battle in 19 of their 26 games and tied their opponents in rebounding in one game
– The Jackets are averaging 77.1 points per game when playing at home this season
– The Yellow Jackets have scored first in 19 of their 25 games. Georgia Tech is 13-6 when it scores the first points of the game  
– Dating back to the 2012-13 season, Tech has won 18 out of its 21 home non-conference games. Tech’s loss to Georgia was its first nonconference home loss since Dec. 2, 2012 against UGA 

ACC LEADERS
Sophomore Kaela Davis is currently second among  ACC players in points per game in conference play with 18.9 ppg. The Yellow Jackets have two players in the top 15 of scoring in conference games. Davis checks in at number two, while junior Aaliyah Whiteside is 15th with her 15.0 points per game average. In rebounding, junior Roddreka Rogers is averaging 9.3 boards per game against conference opponents, which is fifth. 

The Yellow Jackets rank fourth in scoring offense in ACC games, averaging 68.6 points per game. Tech is hitting the offensive boards hard, averaging 16.2 offensive rebounds a game, which is third in conference games. They rank second in offensive rebound percentage with 41.1 percent.

THROWBACK to the last time they met
The Yellow Jackets and Fighting Irish met less than a month ago in South Bend, with Notre Dame recording a 86-79 victory. Sophomore Kaela Davis led the Jackets with 24 points and scored her 1,000th career point against the Irish. Three other Jackets scored in double figures – Whiteside (16), Vuckovic (12) and O’Neil (10). Jewell Lloyd was the lead scorer for Notre Dame, notching 29 points, while Taya Reimer scored 19 and had eight rebounds. 

GOING HARD IN THE PAINT
The Yellow Jackets are averaging 30.6 points per game in the paint, which is 42 percent of their overall points average (73.5). The Yellow Jackets have outscored their opponents in the paint in 15 out of 26 games and tied their opponents in one game. The Jackets have been strong on the offensive boards this season with a 42.2 offensive rebound percentage which ranks third in the ACC.  Tech ranks third in the ACC in offensive rebounds with an average of 16.7 a game. Georgia Tech is averaging 15.8 second chance points per game. 

rewriting the record book
With her 1,118 career points, sophomore Kaela Davis checks in at 20th on Georgia Tech’s all-time scoring list. Also on that list is senior Sydney Wallace who is tied for 26th with 1,001 career points. Both Jackets are also on the 3-point field goals made in a career chart, with Wallace in sixth (167)  and Davis in seventh (139). 

Junior Aaliyah Whiteside is the next Jacket in line to score 1,000 points. Over the past three season, Whiteside has scored 811 points so far.

With 13 points against Miami, Davis set the new record for the most points scored in a single season by a sophomore at Georgia Tech. Her 524 points this season surpassed Kisha Ford’s record of 521 that she set in the1994-95 season. Davis owns the record for most points scored in a single-season for a freshman after she scored 594 last year. Junior Roddreka Rogers’ 242 rebounds this season puts her in fourth on the single-season rebounds for a Yellow Jacket in their junior season.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE 3X
Against NC State, three Yellow Jackets recorded double-doubles. Junior Roddreka Rogers recorded her team-best seventh double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Freshman Zaire O’Neil had her fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Katarina Vuckovic notched her first double-double of her career, scoring 11 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. The last time three Jackets recorded double-figure rebounds in a single game was against North Carolina last year on Feb. 6, 2014. 

DAVIS ON NAISMITH TOP-30
Sophomore Kaela Davis has been named to the Naismith Trophy Women’s Midseason Top-30 list. Davis was honored on the preseason Top-50 list in September. She is one of six ACC players and one of seven sophomores that have been named on the list. 

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE TILFORD
At Miami, point guard Imani Tilford led the Yellow Jackets in rebounding for the first time in her career, grabbing a career-high eight rebounds. Tilford, who is 5’5”, had the least amount of height on either team. Tilford is averaging 16.7 minutes per game and a team-best 1.6 steals per game in ACC play. 

DOUBLE TROUBLE
A pair of Yellow Jacket juniors – Aaliyah Whiteside and Roddreka Rogers – have stepped up during ACC play. As a pair, the duo is averaging 25.3 ppg and 15.7 rpg against conference foes. Whiteside is averaging 15.0 ppg and 6.2 rpg in conference play, while Rogers is tallying 10.3 ppg and 9.3 rpg. Throughout the entire season, Whiteside has led the Jackets in scoring in six games, while scoring in double-figures in 16 games while Rogers has led Tech in rebounding in 16 games, tallying double figure rebounds in 11 games. 

board room
The Yellow Jackets have continued their dominance in rebounding with a +6.7 rebounding margin, which is fifth in the ACC and 33rd in the NCAA. Tech has won the rebounding battle in 19 out of 26 games, including holding a 53-36 advantage on the glass against NC State and a 45-37 advantage at Miami. Rogers leads the efforts on the boards with a 9.3 rpg average. She is fifth in the ACC and is fifth in defensive rebounds with 5.7 rebounds per game. Rogers has had double-figure rebounds in 11 games.

SPREAD OUT SCORING
In every game so far this year, at least two Yellow Jackets have scored in double-figures. Five Jackets have hit the double-figure mark in three games (Loyola, Morgan State and Grambling State) while four achieved the feat against Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Clemson, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and NC State. Georgia Tech has four players averaging double-figures – Kaela Davis (20.2), Sydney Wallace (13.1), Aaliyah Whiteside (12.7), and Zaire O’Neil (11.5). Davis leads the Jackets with 25 double-figure games this season with Whiteside scoring in double-figures in 16 games and O’Neil in 18.

RAINING THREE’S                                             
Georgia Tech made 11 3-point shots in two games, at Loyola Chicago and Lipscomb which ranks third in the Georgia Tech record books for

3-pointers made in a game. The Jackets have made at least nine 3-pointers in seven games- Loyola, Morgan State, Grambling State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Alabama State and Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech is eighth in the ACC with 6.0 3-pointers made per game.

free points
At Virginia, the Yellow Jackets shot 100 percent from the free throw line (14-14) marking the first time the Jackets have gone 100 percent from the charity stripe since Virginia and Georgia Tech met on Jan. 13, 2011 and Tech shot 11-for-11.  The Yellow Jackets are shooting 73.1 percent from the free throw line as a team, which ranks fourth in the ACC and 48th in the NCAA. Tech is shooting 76.7 percent from the foul line in crunch time (the final five minutes of the game). Three Yellow Jackets are shooting 80 percent or better from the charity stripe this season, led by junior Aaliyah Whiteside who is shooting a team-best 83.5 percent  (101-for-121) which ranks sixth in the ACC and 56th in the NCAA

NEXT UP
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team hits the road, traveling to Clemson on Sunday at 2 p.m.