Georgia Tech women’s basketball tops Kennesaw State

Release from Georgia Tech Athletics:

The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team (3-0) won its third-straight game, defeating Kennesaw State (2-1), 77-48,on Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion.

“Tonight we were able to use our size on the boards to outrebound them by 18 boards,” head coach MaChelle Joseph said. “I thought Aaliyah Whiteside in particular is playing well. She’s playing multiple positions and playing them well. Again, Roddreka Rogers did a good job on the boards.”

With the victory, the Yellow Jackets extended their series lead against the Owls to 9-0 and have started out the season 3-0 for the sixth time under Joseph. Georgia Tech dominated the paint, outscoring Kennesaw State, 48-18, and forced the Owls to turn the ball over 20 times, which the Jackets translated into 26 points.  The Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Owls by 18, 48-30, with half of those rebounds coming from the offensive glass.

Out of the 11 Yellow Jackets that played, 10 scored points against the Owls, including freshmen Imani Tilford and De’Ashia Jones, who each scored four points apiece for their first points as Jackets. Georgia Tech was led in scoring by sophomore Kaela Davis who scored in double-figures for the 32^nd time in her career. Her 15 points against Kennesaw State extended her double-figure scoring streak to 15-straight games. Davis also pulled down eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end.

Whiteside recorded her second double-double of her career, leading the team in rebounding with 11 boards and scoring 14 points. She also recorded four assists and one steal. In all three of Georgia Tech’s wins this season, one Jacket has recorded a double-double.

For the third consecutive game, freshman Zaire O’Neil scored in double-figures, this time notching a season high of 14. Senior Sydney Wallace, who has made at least two 3-pointers in every game so far this season for Georgia Tech, scored 12 points against the Owls while dishing out four assists.

The two teams fought for the lead in the opening minutes of game and the Owls jumped ahead with a four-point lead, 18-14, at12:55 after a 9-2 run.  The Jackets’ countered Kennesaw State’s run with one of their own, outscoring the Owls’ 12-0 to take a 28-21 lead at 7:17 in the first half. The Jackets were strong defensively during their run, forcing seven turnovers and holding the Owls scoreless for 7:01.

The Yellow Jackets scored seven straight unanswered points to close out the first half with a 35-23 lead.

Davis, who made the final basket of the first half, opened up the second half by scoring back-to-back layups. While the Jackets continued to build on their lead, Georgia Tech’s defense held the Owls to just four points during a timeframe that spanned from the 11:08 mark in the first half to 14:36 in the second half. During that run, the Jackets outscored the Owls, 27-4.

Freshman Zaire O’Neil put together her own 5-0 run to push Tech’s lead to 48-28 with 12:55 remaining. The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to as much as 26 in the final 26 seconds of the game when O’Neil went hard to the basket for a layup, putting the Jackets ahead, 77-48.