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Lady Bulldogs rally past Kentucky

Feb 4, 2013 by Georgia Sports Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Khaalidah Miller scored a career-high 25 points and No. 13 Georgia outscored No. 8 Kentucky 16-4 over the final 5:33 en route to a 75-71 win at Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. The win snapped the Wildcats’ 34-game home winning streak.

Anne Marie Armstrong and Jasmine James chipped in a dozen points each, while Jasmine Hassell hauled in a team-high eight rebounds for Georgia (19-3, 7-2 SEC). A’dia Mathies and Jennifer O’Neill paced Kentucky (19-3, 7-2 SEC) with 18 points apiece.

“It was gutsy,” Andy Landers said. “We were down by 10 and J.J. picked up her fourth foul and things didn’t look too good. I think I’m proudest of the fact that we stayed the course. We fought. Everyone fought. There were a lot of things – big and little – a lot of different people did that added up to a huge comeback and a huge win for this basketball team.”

Georgia trailed by double digits in both halves before rallying to take the lead midway through the second stanza. Following four ties, Kentucky surged back to a 67-59 lead with 6:04 remaining. A pair of James free throws began the Lady Bulldogs’ decisive surge. James, Miller and Armstrong accounted for all 16 points down the stretch.

Georgia was behind 40-30 at the intermission and the Lady Bulldogs’ prospects appeared even more grim when James was whistled for her fourth foul 15 seconds into the second half.

After Kentucky built a 45-32 advantage at the 18:38 mark, Tiaria Griffin score all seven of her points in a 17-2 run that culminated with a Miller three that put Georgia up 49-47. Four ties followed, lastly at 61-61, before the Wildcats scored on a DeNisha Stallworth three and an O’Neill layup in transition in a span of just 37 seconds.

Kentucky inched its lead back to eight before the Lady Bulldogs embarked on their dramatic run, tying the game at 69-69 with 4:08 on the clock and taking the lead for good on a James jumper deep in the shot clock with 3:14 left.

The Lady Bulldogs fell into a hole early in the first half. Back-to-back threes from O’Neill and Mathies and an inbounds steal and layup by Stallworth pushed a 4-2 lead to 12-4 in a span of just 65 seconds. The Wildcats pushed their advantage to 21-8 at the 9:52 mark.

An Erika Ford jumper and a pair of Miller threes keyed a 15-6 run that pulled the Lady Bulldogs within 27-23. Georgia missed three-pointers that would have closed the gap to one before Kentucky scored four unanswered at the free throw line.

The Wildcats scored the final five points of the half – lastly on O’Neill’s fourth three of the period with 16 seconds remaining – to build a 40-30 lead at the intermission.

Georgia won the rebound count, 40-33, and connected on 51.7 percent of its second-half field goals. The Lady Bulldogs shot 78.9 percent from the line, including 11-of-13 in the second half.

The Lady Bulldogs will return home on Thursday when Georgia hosts Auburn at 7 p.m. The first 300 UGA students in attendance will receive “Beat Auburn” t-shirts.

Single-game reserved seat tickets for Lady Bulldog home games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. Single-game tickets are available at the UGA Ticket Office at the Butts-Mehre from 8:30-4:30 weekdays, via georgiadogs.com, by calling the UGA Ticket Office at 877-542-1621 or at the Stegeman Coliseum box office (closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 60 minutes before tip-off.

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.

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