Feb. 15, 2009
No. 24 Vanderbilt 80 – Georgia 64
February 15, 2009 – Memorial Gym
Attendance: 5,010
– Vanderbilt started forwards Christina Wirth and Hannah Tuomi and guards Jence Rhoads, Meredith Marsh, and Jennifer Risper
– Risper, Wirth, Tuomi and Marsh have started in all 26 games this season, while Rhoads made her 13th start of the year. Wirth leads the team with 109 career starts while has 77 career starts. Marsh made her 54th career start while Tuomi made the 47th start of her career.
First Half Notes: Vanderbilt 34 – Georgia 29
– Georgia won the opening tip
– Georgia scored eight of the games first 11 points, taking an 8-3 lead with 16:20 remaining in the first half.
– Trailing 16-7 at the 13:10 mark in the first half, Vanderbilt went on a 6-2 run to close the UGA lead to five (18-13) with 11:00 minutes remaining. Meredith Marsh scored all six of VU’s points during the run, knocking down a pair of three pointers.
– After Georgia pushed the lead back to seven (20-13) with 10:41 remaining, the Commodores went on a 19-6 run to take a 32-26 lead with 1:22 remaining in the half. Vanderbilt’s first lead of the game came after Risper hit a pair of free throws, giving the ‘Dores a two-point lead at 28-26.
– Wirth led Vanderbilt in scoring in the first-half with 10 points while Marsh and Risper chipped in eight first-half points
– Vanderbilt outrebounded Georgia 19-17 in the first half
– Georgia outscored Vanderbilt 11-2 in bench points in the opening stanza
– There were three lead changes in the first half
– Georgia scored 18 points in the paint in the first half while Vanderbilt had 12
– Vanderbilt was 12-of-27 (44.4%) from the field in the first half while Georgia was 14-of-34 (41.2%)
Second Half Notes:
– Georgia started the second half on a 6-2 run, cutting the VU lead to one point (36-35) with 16:36 remaining in the game.
– Vanderbilt countered with a 6-2 run of their own to push its lead to six points (43-37) with 12:48 remaining.
– Leading 47-40 at the 11:58 mark in the second half, Georgia went on 7-0 run to tie the game up at 47 with 10:26 remaining in the second half. The ‘Dores quickly countered with a four-point play as Wirth knocked down a two-point jumper and Marsh was fouled on the play going for the rebound, putting her at the line where she would knock down a pair of free throws
– Holding a one-point lead of 51-50 at the 10:06 mark, the Commodores went on 13-0 run over the next four minutes, taking a 64-50 lead with 6:29 remaining in the game. The 13-0 run was the largest run of the game for either team. During the run, freshman Tia Gibbs came off the bench to score five consecutive points in a 25 second span.
Postgame Notes:
– With the win, Vanderbilt improves to 20-6, 9-2 SEC while Georgia falls to 15-10, 5-5 SEC. This marks the seventh consecutive season under Head Coach Melanie Balcomb that VU has won at least 20 games in a season. This marks the 10th straight season that Vanderbilt has won at least 20 games in a season.
– The 20-win season marks the 23rd overall 20-win season in school history.
– Vanderbilt’s 9-2 conference record matches the best start to league play through the team’s first 11 games. The Commodores won 81.8 percent of their games (9-2) in both the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Vanderbilt started 8-2 last season in SEC play before a loss to No. 1 Tennessee.
– The win over Georgia marks the fourth straight win over the Lady Bulldogs for the Commodores. Georgia now leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 29-21. Head coach Melanie Balcomb is 7-4 all-time against UGA as VU’s head coach.
– Vanderbilt had five players score in double figures, Wirth (21), Marsh (18), Risper (10), Tuomi (10) and Gibbs (10).
– Vanderbilt recorded 22 second chance points while Georgia had 13. Vanderbilt scored 21 points off of UGA’s turnovers while the Lady Bulldogs scored 16 off of VU’s miscues. Vanderbilt forced Georgia into 19 turnovers, while UGA forced VU to 15 turnovers. VU improved to 18-3 on the season when having fewer turnovers than its opponent.
– Both teams shot nearly identical from the field for the game, Vanderbilt finished 26-of-58 (44.8%) from the field while Georgia was 26-of-59 (44.1%).
– Vanderbilt outrebounded Georgia 36 to 33. VU is now 13-3 on the season when at least tying or outrebounding its opponent.
– Vanderbilt finished the game 19-of-22 (86.4%) from the free throw line while Georgia made 10-of-15 free throws.
Individual Notes:
– Wirth led all scores with 21 points, marking the 11th time this season that Wirth has led the team in scoring. With 21 points Sunday, Wirth moved into 13th place all-time in scoring at Vanderbilt. The Mesa, Ariz., native has scored 1,406 points in 126 career games. Wirth has scored at least 20 points in eight games this season and 16 for her career.
– Marsh’s 18-point performance marks the seventh consecutive game that she has scored in double figures. In two games this week Marsh averaged 22.0 points per game, finishing 11-of-22 (50%) from behind the arc.