The Lady Bulldogs fall to 17-10 on the year with a 5-9 record in the Southeastern Conference, while the Tigers improve to 10-17 (1-13 SEC).
Georgia was never able to ignite its offensive campaign, shooting just 24 percent from the field compared to Auburn’s 39 percent. The Tigers mustered 28 points in the paint and added 15 points off of 27 Georgia miscues.
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“It was a pretty poor performance any way you slice it,” head coach Andy Landers said. “I’m not sure what we did well. We didn’t play as hard as Georgia is supposed to play. Defensively, we were okay but we should have been and could have been disruptive all night long. We didn’t seem to have the energy or desire to do that. Offensively, we were broken, we had turnovers and scrambled at times. Not a very good performance.”
Sophomores Pachis Roberts and Halle Washington paced Georgia with 10 and nine points apiece. Erika Ford grabbed 11 boards to give the Lady Bulldogs a 35-31 rebounding advantage.
Auburn’s Brandy Montgomery was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points.
The opening period proved a defensive battle as only 32 points were scored between the teams in the first 20 minutes. Georgia out-rebounded the Tigers 23-15, with 14 of those coming on the Auburn side of the court, but the Tigers took advantage of 14 Lady Bulldog turnovers to keep pace. Ford tallied nine rebounds in the first half alone.
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Washington opened the contest with a quick layup and Auburn’s Katie Frerking responded with a 3-pointer. This back-and-forth scoring was the story of the first half, as there were five lead changes and five ties throughout the period.
Roberts and Haley Clark hit key shots in the paint to even the score three different times. However, Auburn tossed in a layup with less than a minute on the clock to take a 17-15 lead at the intermission.
Georgia went cold in the second half, and the Tigers capitalized with a 9-0 run in the first six minutes of play. Washington ended the scoring drought with a jumper at the 12:38 mark to give Georgia its first points of the period.
Roberts added a long shot from behind the arc to cut the Auburn lead to nine points with 9:49 to play. However, the Tigers stretched its advantage to 18 points over the remaining minutes. Roberts closed the game for Georgia with a steal and five points in the final 1:33.
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The Lady Bulldogs will host Tennessee on Thursday evening in their final home game of the regular season. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
Single-game reserved seat tickets for Lady Bulldog games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. UGA students, faculty and staff are admitted to all Lady Bulldog games free of charge with a valid UGA Card. Faculty and staff should pick up tickets at the Coliseum box office. Students are admitted to the arena via the entrance to the left of the box office by showing their UGA Card.
Single-game tickets are on sale via georgiadogs.com, by calling 877-542-1231 or in person at the UGA Ticket Office in the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall from 8:30-4:30 on weekdays. In addition, single-game tickets go on sale at the Stegeman Coliseum box office (closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 60 minutes before tip-off of every home game.
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Georgia Lady Bulldog Basketball
Post-Game Notes & Quotes
Georgia vs. Auburn
Sunday, February 22, 2015 • Stegeman Coliseum • Athens, Ga.
Notes
• Georgia is now 26-18 all-time versus Auburn including a 16-5 record in Athens.
• The Lady Dogs’ seven-game losing streak is the longest in head coach Andy Landers’ 36 seasons in Athens.
• Georgia’s 26 points are the fewest the Lady Dogs have tallied in program history. The previous low was 31 points against both West Georgia and Berry during the 1973-74 campaign, the Lady Bulldogs’ first season of intercollegiate competition. The 15 points in the first half was the second fewest Georgia has posted this season since they tallied 14 against then No. 1 South Carolina on February 2, 2015).
• The 44 points allowed was the third fewest by Georgia and fewest allowed to any SEC opponent this season.
•The Lady Dog defense held Auburn to 17 points in the first half, the fewest points allowed to any SEC opponent this season.
• Georgia honored six members of the Lady Bulldog Basketball family during pre-game “Senior Day” ceremonies – players Krista Donald and Erik Ford; managers Ben Dolezal, Aaron Jenkins and Jonathan Oshinski; and athletic trainer, Mallory McQuaig.
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Lady Bulldogs In Double Digits
• Erika Ford grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including eight on the defensive boards. The double-digit performance equals career high and the third of her career.
• Pachis Roberts tallied 10 points, marking her second highest career point total.
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers
On today’s game…
“We didn’t get much going defensively. It was a pretty poor performance any way you slice it. I’m not sure what we did well. We didn’t play as hard as Georgia is supposed to play. We didn’t play with any great intent to accomplish any way. Defensively, we were okay but we should have been and could have been disruptive all night long. We didn’t seem to have the energy or desire to do that. Offensively, we were broken, we had turnovers and scrambled at times – just awful decisions in two-on-ones and layups instead of passing to the open man or double team when trying to shoot. You know, not a very good performance.”
On the coaching staff’s message to the team post game…
“It was a team message. I’m not going to put it out there, but basically as a staff we all told them what we looked like today. And I told them why I thought we were where we were and it has nothing to do with one person.”
On the team’s potential to turn their fortunes…
“I think anybody has the ability or potential to do about anything but this group has not responded since we had people injured. I feel like there’s been a lot of force feeding to get things done and they haven’t responded. And when you don’t respond, sooner or later something like today happens. So if you look at it and say well we haven’t gotten the response that the coaches asked for last month, I don’t know if they will snap back and straighten it out in two days or not.”