University of Washington
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech Stings Huskies, 60-27
December 23, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2010
SEATTLE - Long, lean and athletic, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are a nightmare for opponents defensively. The Huskies certainly felt their sting Thursday night as the Ramblin' Wreck came into Hec Edmundson Pavilion and ripped off a 60-27 victory.
With that, the non-conference season came to a close for Washington. The team will break for the Christmas holiday before reconvening to start preparing for the Pac-10 season, which begins on Dec. 31 when UCLA visits Hec Ed.
Tia Jackson's post-game message to her team was brief. She wanted her student-athletes to understand that when other teams present adversity, the response needs to be forceful and direct. Jackson admitted the Yellow Jackets presented the right wake-up call for the weekly battering ram that defines playing in the Pac-10. The Huskies coach noted these are lessons her group can learn from going forward.
Big picture, the 5-4 Huskies enter the Pac-10 season with a winning record for the first time under Jackson. And the Huskies have shown the ability to rebound from a tough loss several times this season.
"For some reason, we just couldn't find our rhythm out there," Jackson said. Marjorie Heard led the Huskies with nine points and eight rebounds. The Yellow Jackets handcuffed Kristi Kingma for most of the night, holding the Huskies' leading scorer to just six points. GT sent a conga line of athletes at the 5-10 junior guard, and then switched off screens to close open looks. After playing man-to-man defense all season, the Yellow Jackets reversed script and opened up in a matchup zone.
"They were really keying on me," Kingma said. "My shots weren't falling. And we weren't necessarily doing a great job of hitting the extra pass or seeing the open player."
Kingma talked afterwards with a bandage covering the left side of her head, a wound that came as the result of diving for a loose ball. It wasn't nearly as serious, though, as the elbow that resulted in a second-half concussion for Mollie Williams.
Georgia Tech scheduled the game as a homecoming for senior Alex Montgomery. The Tacoma native and Lincoln High School graduate put on a show for the dozens of supporters she had in the visitor's section, scoring a game-high 20 points. She knocked down 8-of-10 shots from the field, including a flawless 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Tyaunna Marshall added 14 points for the Yellow Jackets, who improved to 9-4.
The Huskies threw several punches in the first half, only to see Georgia Tech respond with a haymaker. With UW leading 16-15, the Ramblin' Wreck responded with an 11-3 run to close the half. The Yellow Jackets then broke open in the second stanza, paralyzing the Huskies' offense with multiple varieties of pressure defense. Tech outscored the Huskies 34-9 over the final 20 minutes, limiting Washington to just three second-half field goals.
The Huskies return to campus on Dec. 27, and are hopeful to have a few healthy bodies back in their rotation. Regina Rogers and Mercedes Wetmore are expected to play against the Bruins, which should give the shorthanded Huskies valuable ammunition to go against one of the Pac-10's best teams.
